ROBLEMS OF 
ERNAL MOMENT 



K Grajst Anderson 




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PROBLEMS 

of 
Eternal Moment 

y? 

By J.^rant Anderson 



Gospel Trumpet Company 
Anderson, Ind. 

Los Angeles, Cal. Kansas City, Mo. 

132 V2 So. Spring St. 1116 McGee St. 






CopyrigM, 1921, 

by 

Gospel Trumpet Company 



©CI.A617823 



INTKODUCTION. 

Solomon, the wise man, said, ^^To everything there is 
a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven : 
a time to be bom, and a time to die." Those vital 
decisions and acts of man which go to make up the bal- 
ance-sheet of life, and which decide the future destiny 
of all mankind, we consider problems of eternal moment. 
Millions of precious souls are today sailing on uncertain 
seas ; but there are messages enough for their guidance, 
if we can catch these messages and send them on. God^s 
part is complete ; the message to a lost world is on hand ; 
our responsibility, then, is to transcribe and transmit it 
correctly ; for we, every saved soul, are, in Christ^s stead, 
to teach men how to become reconciled to God. 

To the end that the world might be reconciled to him, 
God uses every constructive agency. In time past he has 
taken humble fishermen, weak men, impulsive men, nat- 
ural liars, rich men, educated and uneducated men, and 
transformed them by his grace and mighty power into 
instruments of usefulness, and their sermons and writ- 
ings have sent a holy thrill vibrating down through the 
ages. The world of humanity has been h3rpnotized by 
sin, and must be aroused quickly, or they may sleep the 
sleep of death. What is needed today is a message that 
is positive, aggressive, and progressive — a wholesome, 
saving, life-giving message which will appeal to the 
moral, intellectual, and emotional part of every man. 
Natural philosophy can not explain the operations of 
the Spirit of God, no more than scientific elucidations 
can reveal how forms of Ii£^ Can sj)ring from transparent. 



4 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

homogeneous protoplasm; yet the Lord^ who is infinite 
in wisdom, has seen fit to awaken the slumbering souls 
of men through the foolishness of preaching, and his 
written Word. Noiselessly as the opening of the rose-bud 
or the rising of the morning sun, God speaks to the souls 
of men, and as silently and softly as the snow-flake falls 
upon the meadow land, he speaks peace to troubled 
hearts. The day of speculative theology is past, and men 
demand eternal verities. The object of this volume is 
to stir men to action, to stimulate progress, and to 
awaken responsibilities, which automatically will kindle 
holy fires on cold family altars, and transform men 
from a dead sea into a sea of glass mingled with celestial 
fire, reflecting the true image of Almighty God. 

J. Grant Anderson. 
Franklin, Pa., Jan. 18, 1921. 



CONTENTS 

Chapter Page 

I. The Word of God » 7 

n. The Value of Time 23 

III. The Mirage of Evil 31 

IV. An Indelible Eecord 41 

V. The Love of God 47 

VI. Prepare to Meet Thy God 59 

Vn. The Voice of Conscience 66 

VIII. Responsibility of Man 73 

IX. The Law of Progress 81 

X. The Making of a Man „ 89 

XI. The Line of Least Resistance 99 

XII. Fatal Flaws 109 

Xni. The Law of Cause and Effect 115 

XIV. Man: His Present and Future 125 

XV. Moral Responsibility 133 

XVL The Infinite God 141 

XVn. The Judgment-Day 149 

XVIII. The Christian's Hope 159 



Problems of Eternal Moment 

CHAPTEK I 
THE WORD OF GOD 

I am not so much interested in what the prophet said 
as I am in what God meant when he spoke through those 
lips of clay. It is the voice of God that I desire to hear, 
and I hear him speaking when I read my Bible. To 
properly understand a building one must converse with 
the architect, and to fully comprehend the Bible we must 
be in touch with the divine. The lexicographer can not 
explain the Word of God, and the grammarian, as such, 
will never be able to understand the prophet. The Bible 
is God speaking to humanity, and if we should start to 
study our Bible for any other purpose than to hear him, 
we shall soon be lost in details. I go to the infidel for 
infidelity, but to the Book for truth, for it is a 

Eevelation Prom God 

The Bible is a living fact. It exists. It has been 
printed and read in more than one hundred and fifty 
languages. Its power has everywhere been felt, by in- 
dividuals, communities, governments, and nations. Its 
fruits have been gathered in all climes. Its doctrines 
have enlightened, its teachings have purified, and its 
promises have comforted millions of the human family. 
Many of the wisest and most influential men and women 
of all ages have been thoroughly convinced that it is 
the Word of God, and this conviction has increased as 



8 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

their virtues^ the excellence of their characters, and the 
spirituality of their lives have increased. Countless mul- 
titudes of them have been ready to die rather than to 
deny this truth. Thousands have suffered martyrdom 
rather than deny it. 

No other book in the world, indeed all the other books 
in the world have not imparted to the dying a tithe of 
the support, consolation, and hope that the Bible has 
given. It has taken away the terrors of death. It has 

sent its light across the dark valley. It has brought God, 
Christ, and heaven near, and made the future, with its 
ineffable glories, a present reality to the departing 
saint. These are facts in the history of the Bible that 
can not be wiped out. If the book could be destroyed 
by its enemies today, what it has done in the past would 
remain untouched and would not be disturbed in the 
slightest degree. 

If the Bible is not of God, if its promises have no 
basis, then it plunges us into a darker sea of doubt and 
perplexity than before, and only adds to the mysteries 
of existence, to the gloom of life, and to the terrors of 
death. But if it is the Word of God, it speaks with an 
authority that none can safely disregard; its messages 
are solemn beyond all human expression. It pours light 
through a darkened world, scatters the clouds of doubt, 
solves the problems of human life and history, and gives 
to mankind an infallible teacher and guide. We hail 
it as a revelation of our Father to his children, a revela- 
tion of his character, his will, his grand purposes, and 
his boundless love. 



THE WORD OF GOD 9 

Outlived Its Enemies 

The fact that the Bible has survived the ravages of 
time and the efforts of wicked men to destroy it is proof 
that it is a divine revelation. While the greatest human 
productions after exerting a controlling influence in the 
world gradually lose their power and pass out of the 
current of literature, the Bible not only continues to be 
a living force, but it increases in pov^er with the prog- 
ress of time. It has not come to us like the shrunken 
mummies of Egypt, but full of vitality, freshness, and 
beauty. As it quickens the intellects and purifies the 
hearts of men, they are better able to understand its 
messages,, apprehend its doctrines, and appreciate its 
exceeding great and precious promises. And thus the 
Bible creates the means for its own development and 
augmenting power. 

It can not grow old. It can not become obsolete. 
There is nothing that can be substituted for it. There 
is nothing that can compete with it in the race of use- 
fulness. It not only keeps in advance of all other forms 
of literature and systems of philosophy and ethics, but 
it is constantly gaining upon them. It never controlled, 
guided, and benefited so many millions of the human 
family as it does today. Its doctrines and precepts and 
prophecies were never better understood than now. There 
never were so many facilities for studying the Bible as 
exist at the present moment. 

The Bible, like its Author, is inexhaustible. It has 
resources in reserve yet to be brought out. God is be- 
hind his own Book, pushing it forward and onward, mul- 
tiplying copies of it the same as he produces the leaves 



10 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

upon the trees in the springtime. Its waters of life flow 
from a perennial fountain, for the word of God liveth 
and abideth forever. 

The Bible is more than ancient literature or abstract 
philosophy, for it appeals to the inner and indestructible 
part of men. Silently behind its pages there stands mo- 
tive, thought, impulse, and the quenchless immortality, 
for which there are no words or language to express. 
One may dissect the body, but he can not dissect the 
life. The botanist may analyze the flower, but he can 
not analyze the fragrance, and so it is with the Word 
of God. It is infinitely more than literature, for it is 
the divine revelation. It is not only discipline, it is also 
holiness. The altar may be measured in cubits, but no 
measuring rod can be laid upon the quality of the sacri- 
fice. The Word of God deals with infinite, immortal 
qualities. One may take issue with the newspaper, or 
the almanac ; but he who takes issue with the Bible, the 
Word of God — does so at the peril of his soul. 

Its Astonishing Accuracy 

An astonishing feature of the Word of God is that, 
notwithstanding the time at which its compositions were 
written, and the multitudes of topics to which it alludes, 
there is not one physical error — not one assertion or 
allusion disproved by the progress of modern science. 
There are none of those mistakes which the science of 
each succeeding age discovers in the preceding, and, 
above all, none of those absurdities that are found in 
such great numbers in the writings of the ancients, in 
their sacred codes and in their philosophies, and even in 
the finest pages of the Church Fathers — ^not one of 



THE WOBJ) OF GOD 11 

these errors is to be found in the Word of God. 

Peruse with care the Scriptures from end to end, and 
while you apply yourself to this examination, remember 
that it is a book that speaks of everything — that de- 
scribes nature, tells us of the water, of the atmosphere, 
of the mountains, of the animals, of the planets, etc. It 
is a book that tells us of the first revolution of the world, 
and that also foretells the last. It speaks of the begin- 
ning of time and of its end. It recounts the history of 
the earth and sky in the circumstantial evidence of 
history; it extols them in the sublimest strains of po- 
etry ; and it chants them in the charms of glowing songs. 
It is a book that is full of Oriental rapture, elevation, 
variety, and boldness. It is a book that speaks of the 
heavenly and invisible world, while it also speaks of the 
earth and things visible. 

The Bible is a book that thirty-five or more writers of 
every degree of cultivation, of every state, of every con- 
dition, and living through the course of fifteen hundred 
years have contributed to make. It is a book that was 
written in the center of Asia, in the sands of Arabia, 
and in the deserts of Judea ; in the court of the temple 
of the Jews; in the schools of the prophets of Bethel 
and Jericho; in the sumptuous palaces of Babylon; on 
the idolatrous banks of the Chebar; and, finally, in the 
center of western civilization among the ignorant Jews 
and in the midst of the learned polytheistic Greeks. It 
is a book whose first writer had been a pupil of the magi- 
cians of Egypt, magicians in whose opinion the sun, the 
stars, and the elements were endowed with intelligence 
and reacted upon the elements and governed the world 
by a perpetual alluvium. It is a book whose first writer 



12 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

preceded by more than nine hundred years the ancient 
philosophies of Asia and Greece — of Confucius, of 
Thales, Pythagoras, and Socrates. It is a book that car- 
ries its narrations even to the hierarchy of the angels ; 
even to the most distant epochs of the future; and the 
glorious scenes of the last days. Holy men were in- 
spired by God to compile it. It is the voice of God 
speaking from behind the curtain. Eternity whispered 
the secret things to holy men, and inspiration gave them 
suitable language. 

The Beauty of Bible Language 

The beauty of the Bible language is universally ac- 
knowledged, and this is mainly due to its exquisite use 
of natural objects for illustration. It draws from every 
field in God^s vast domain. Wlien an appeal is to be 
made to the emotional part of men, the references are 
at once to natural objects; and throughout all its books 
the stars, the mighty sea, the flowers, and rushing armies 
are prominent illustrations of the beauties of religion 
and the glories of the church. Examples : ^The wilder- 
ness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and 
the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.'' ^^The 
mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into 
singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their 
hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree, 
and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle-tree." 
The power and beauty of similar objects appear in the 
Savior's teachings. The fig and the olive and the lily 
of the valley and the sparrow gave peculiar force and 
beauty to the great truths they were used to illustrate. 
The Bible throughout is remarkable in this respect. 



THE WORD OF GOD 13 

One of the Bible's adaptations to the nature of man is 
found in the sublime and perfect representation of the 
natural world, by which nature is ever made to proclaim 
the character and perfection of God. No language can 
be written that so perfectly sets forth the grand and ter- 
rible as references to nature and its forces, as we hear 
when God answers Job out of the whirlwind. No higher 
appreciation of the beautiful, and of God as the Author 
of beauty, was ever expressed than when our Savior said 
of the lilies of the field, ^^I say unto you, That even Solo- 
mon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these," 
and then adds, ^^f God so clothe the grass of the field,'' 
ascribing elements of beauty to every leaf and opening 
bud of the Creator's skill and power. 

Its Wonderful Harmony 

The Bible is a book of wonderful harmony, pointing 
us away from the mean and transitory things of earth 
to the invisible God, without a shape on which to rest 
our enquiring eyes or line on which to lay our trembling 
hand. It is forever pointing us upward and onward 
through a silence that makes our very heart-beats a con- 
scious trespass, and through a light that makes us shrink 
unless we are pure in heart and life. The moral code 
of the Bible is complete. It is a perfect law of liberty. 
We can not add to its perfection. There is no short cut 
upon a straight road. Can anyone add to it an appendix 
of omitted morals ? 

In the Bible we find a wonderful unity in variety. 
Job, Daniel, and Hebrews differ in style, but in all it 
is man who is tempted, the devil who is the tempter, 
and God who delivers those who trust him and obey his 



14 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

laws. Some people regard the Word of God as a mere 
miscellaneous collection of disjointed fragments, but 
they could scarcely make a more serious mistake. The 
whole composition hangs together like a fleece of wool. 
It begins with the creation of the world, the beginning — 
that dateless date, that time so remote that the mind 
staggers at the thought. It ends with the winding up 
of all things earthly and the opening scenes of vast 
eternity. The Old Testament is the vestibule through 
which we enter the matchless Parthenon of the New. 
The Old Testament is mainly the history of God's cove- 
nant people. Through all this history, the nearly forty 
centuries, are interspersed the sublime conversations of 
Job, the pithy proverbs of Solomon, and the predictions 
of the prophets. We hear, at the proper intervals, the 
timbrel of Miriam, the harp of the Psalmist, the plaintive 
wail of Jeremiah, and the sonorous triumphs of Isaiah 
and Habakkuk. 

Through all the Old Testament there flows one warm 
and mighty current — like the water of the Gulf Stream 
through the Atlantic — setting toward Jesus Christ. In 
Genesis he appears as the seed of the woman that should 
bruise the serpent's head; the blood that stained the 
Jewish lintels on the night of the exodus is but 
a type of the Lamb of God that taketh away the 
sin of the world ; the brazen serpent pointed toward him. 
Moses and the prophets testify of Christ. Just as the 
rich musical blast of the Alpine home in Wengem is 
echoed back from the peaks of the Jungfrau, so every 
verse of the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah is echoed in the 
New Testament of Immanuel. 

After a silence of about four hundred years, the New 



' THE WORD OF GOD 15 

Testament begins, with the genealogy of the Savior. The 
first four books are occupied with the earthly life and 
sacrificial death, the resurrection, and ascension of the 
Incarnate One. The four independent narratives of the 
evangelists, like the four walls of a church edifice, con- 
tain and enclose a practically complete narrative of 
Christ's life. Each one has its place and purpose : Mat- 
thew wrote for the Jews, and in his gospel Christ is 
represented as King; the book describes his kingdom 
and its laws. Mark describes his wonderful deeds as a 
man of action — the Christ as a servant doing his Fath- 
er's will. Luke wrote for the Gentiles, and of Jesus as 
the Son of man. John occupies his rich, aromatic pages 
with the wonderful words of the Son of God. He de- 
fines the special purpose and object of his narrative at 
the close of the twentieth chapter as follows : ^^But these 
are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the 
Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might 
have life through his name.'' 

The book of Acts, written by Luke, continues to relate 
what Christ does and teaches through. his apostles and 
representatives. It is devoted to the founding of Chris- 
tian churches in certain great centers of influence like 
Jerusalem, Antioch, Ephesus, Corinth, and Rome. The 
Epistle to the Romans is the grand argument for justi- 
fication by faith. That to the Galatians treats of deliv- 
erance from bondage of the law. The letter to the Phil- 
ippians is redolent of gratitude and of joy. The Epistle 
to the Ephesians is the setting forth of the "heavenlies." 
That to Philemon is the charter of human rights and the 
seed of emancipation proclamations. The Epistles to 
the Cormthians are manuals of personal conduct and the 



16 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

government of churches. When Paul wrote to Timothy 
and to Titus he furnished manuals for Christian pas- 
tors. John's letters are all love-letters^ and needful. 
Hebrews sets forth the priestly office of Jesus. Peter 
utters practical precepts and warnings that are needful 
f 01^ the followers of Christ until the end of time. 

When the life, the death, and the mighty works and 
divine instruction of Christ (by his apostles) have been 
about completed, there bursts upon us the magnificent 
panorama of the Apocalypse. This is the book of sub- 
lime mysteries. But through all the apparent confusion 
of vials, horned beasts, marching armies, and winged 
angels, we can distinctly trace the progress of the glori- 
ous church of God, and her final victory, led by King 
Jesus. The long earthly battle terminates in the over- 
throw of Satan; the final resurrection of all the dead; 
the general judgment ; the awful separation of those who 
have been companions upon earth; the last call, 
''Come," to those vrho are saved, and the final, ''De- 
part from me, ' ' to those who close their life 's work in 
rebellion against the throne of God. Oh, awful day! 

What the Bible Has Done 
There is an infiuence about this book which none other 
possesses. This message from heaven of peace and par- 
don and friendliness and kindness and goodwill to all 
men, has, by the heralds of salvation, been actually gird- 
ling the whole of this globe of ours. Unrelaxed by 
torrid heat, unbenumbed by arctic cold, it can point to 
trophies of the cross in every clime. It has entered the 
palaces of kings and the castellated mansions of great 
chiefs. It has controlled the deliberations of senates. 



THE WORD OF GOD 17 

It has settled the uproar of tattooed warriors^ yielding 
the murderous spears. It has pierced into the coarsest 
heathen intellect and roused into action its slumbering 
faculties and quickened them into spiritual activity. It 
has melted into contrition the most obstinate savage 
heart and enchained its wayward^ roving desires and im- 
perious impulses ; yea, and purified and regulated them 
with a fascination and a power vastly transcending any- 
thing that hope ever imagined or fear conceived. 

In a thousand instances the Bible has made the thiev- 
ish, honest ; the lying, truthful ; the churlish, liberal ; 
the extravagant, frugal. It has in numberless in- 
stances, converted the cruel, unfeeling heart into kind- 
liness and good will; it has turned discord and revelry 
into harmony and sacred song; it has wrought its way 
into the darkest caverns of debasing ignorance and il- 
luminated them with rays of celestial light ; it has gone 
down into the foulest infamy and reared altars of devo- 
tion there; it has mingled its voice with the raging 
tempest ; it has alighted upon the battle-field and poured 
the balm of consolation into the soul of the dying hero ; 
it has, on an errand of mercy, visited the loathsome 
dungeon, braved the famine, confronted the pestilence 
and plague. It has wrenched the iron rod from the 
grasp of oppression, and dashed the fiery cup from the 
lips of intemperance. It has strewn flowers over the 
grave of old enmities, and woven garlands around the 
altar of the temple of peace. These are but a few of the 
mighty achievements that follow as a retinue of splendor 
in the train of this blessed book, which circulates all 
over the world. The Bible does not go around simply 
hinting at sin and wrong-doing, but denounces it in 



18 PEOBLEMS OF ETEENAL MOMENT 

thunder-tones. The trumpet sounding forth in the Word 
of God makes no uncertain sounds. 

The Bible is an Infallible Guidb 

The Bible can be nothing less than our unfailing 
guide, because of its origin. Every one who would learn 
the way of life must resort to it, not to obtain support 
to opinions previously adopted, but to receive meekly, 
unreservedly, and unhesitatingly whatever is really 
taught therein. For instruction, for conviction, for ref- 
ormation, and for education in righteousness the Scrip- 
tures given by the inspiration of God are profitable and 
sufficient. No tenet is true, no principles are sound, no 
motives are pure, no conduct is correct, no hope is well 
founded, no precepts are binding, no ordinances or rites 
or ceremonies are becoming, and no worship is accepta- 
ble, except such as are in harmony with this sacred vol- 
ume. The Bible alone is the standard of morals and 
prescriber of piety. It is not a book of science, yet 
every science is false that is contradictory to it. It is 
not a book of politics, yet all politics that are adverse 
to its principles are unjust and mischievous. It is a 
book for time, to guide through it; a book for earth, 
directing to life above it; a book for society, to regen- 
erate and elevate it. It is a book for man in relation 
to man his brother, and for man the sinner in relation 
to his God. It is the book of Jehovah, because it and 
it only teaches us of the true eternal Being, who, of him- 
self, alone, is immutably existent ; who in himself alone 
is absolute perfection; who is the first-cause of all 
things good, and the end of all things, both in the way of 
terminating what is to be concluded and consummating 



THE WORD OF GOD 19 

what is to be completed. It is the word of Christ. It 
is the word of truth, because its records are facts. Its 
gifts are substantialities ; its requirements are righteous ; 
its predictions and promises are anticipations of Provi- 
dence, which, without exception, in due time and order 
become verities. It is a book of certainties, not experi- 
ments; of realities, not fancies; and of positives, not 
possibilities. It is the book of the law, because it admits 
no appeal from its decision. 

All Classes May Read it With Profit 

N"o other book is so wide in its range, so lofty in its 
aim, so benevolent in its spirit, so dignified in its char- 
acter, and so productive of happiness in its influence. 
Its depth is the mystery of truth; its height is the 
splendor of purity; its mission is the mercy of love; its 
course is the path of wisdom ; its sphere is the world of 
fallen mankind; and its end is the glory of God. It, 
therefore, and it only, is of universal utility. The phil- 
osopher, by the study of it, may extend his knowledge 
of the laws of matter and the properties of mind: the 
statesman may learn from it precedents and principles 
applicable to national government ; the poet may find in 
it inspiring aids to his noblest conceptions; the painter 
may depict from it scenes of the loftiest grandeur and 
holiest awe, or protraits of goodness and beauty afford- 
ing the fullest scope to his artistic genius; while the 
plowboy and ^^the man behind the milF^ may, by means 
of it, learn the most exalted lessons of divine wisdom. 

It Leads Us Safely Home 
Whoever is humbly led by it, is led safely to heaven. 



20 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

To obey it is to be useful;, happy, and safe. I believe 
the Bible today just as n^y mother taught me it in the 
long ago. She told me the story of Lot's wife's turning 
to a pillar of salt, of the great flood, of Job, and of Jesus 
Christ Just as though she believed it to be true. She 
did not doubt the truths she read to me ; nor did I doubt 
that God heard my mother's prayer when I used to kneel 
at my first altar — ^my mother's knee. She never told me 
of ^^tentative suggestions," nor of ^^future excavations." 
I never heard her mention the ^^philosophy of the plan 
of incarnation," or ^^spurious chapters in the book of 
Mark." She told me of Jesus and his love to a lost 
world. She told me that the Bible was the Word of God, 
and that if I believed and obeyed it, I should be saved 
now and in the hereafter. 

The Bible confounds the conceited, baffles the specu- 
lative, rebukes the proud, frowns upon the formal, de- 
nounces the ungenerous, withstands the profligate and 
the impenitent, smiles upon the meek and self-denying, 
assures the contrite in heart, and refreshes the wayworn 
traveler! with words of encouragement and good cheer. 
Like all other works of God, his Word is diversified and 
harmonious, plain and profound, simple and sublime, 
suitable and serviceable. It contains the developments 
of the eternal will, the outpourings of righteous favor, 
the rebukes of fatherly fidelity, the beauties of holiness, 
the glowings of love, the councils of wisdom, and the 
index of futurity. By it, faith unto salvation is author- 
ized, penitence is evoked, prayer is instructed, affliction 
is eradicated, zeal is animated, praise is inspired, and 
death, thank God, is conquered. 



THE WORD OF GOD 21 

Finality 

The Word of God is the depository of the crown jew- 
els of the universe ; it is the lamp that k;indles all other 
lights ; it is the home of all majesties and splendors ; it 
is the marriage-ring that unites the celestial and terres- 
trial, while all the clustering white-robed denizens of 
the sky are hovering around, rejoicing at the nuptials. 
It is the dissector of the human heart ; the charter of 
the church of God ; the specula of the Deity ; the tele- 
scope of eternity. It is the wreath into which are twisted 
all garlands; it is the song into which strike all har- 
monies; it is the river into which are poured all the 
great tides of halleluiahs ; it is the firmament in which 
suns and moons and stars are constellations, and where 
galaxies and immensities and universes and eternities 
wheel and blaze and triumph. Such is the wonderful 
volume God has given to men, and which outweighs 
all the libraries on the globe. It contains many writ- 
ings, yet is one book. It has many writers, yet all is 
from one Author, the Almighty God. It is divine in 
its origin, in its unity. And it will be our judge on 
that day when granite rocks shall burst asunder, and 
all mankind shall stand in the presence of the great 
God. 

Eeader, the Bible is the most wonderful book in the 
world. You should read it every day. It points us to 
our home beyond the sky. 



CHAPTEE II 

THE VALUE OF TIME 

Days, weeks, months, and years constitute those divi- 
sions of duration by which we measure the length of 
natural life. Time indeed is valuable, because during 
the span of human existence is sealed the destiny of all 
mankind. Eecently a large moving-van backed up to 
our neighbor's house, and I asked our neighbor what he 
intended to do. He informed me that he was moving to 
a certain city, where he expected to make his future 
home. He further stated that opportunities were greater 
in that place, and that in a few years he would be inde- 
pendently rich. That very night a swiftly running pas- 
senger-train struck the moving-van, and the poor man 
who a few hours before was bubbling over with enthusi- 
asm was hurled to his death. Then I remembered the 
words of James 4:13-15, which seemed to me at that 
hour as the greatest warning in the Word of God. James 
says : "Go to now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow we 
will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and 
buy and sell, and get gain: whereas ye know not what 
shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is 
even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then 
vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say. If the Lord 
will, we shall live, and do this, or that.'' 

Men Appear to Have Plenty of Time, 

When the springtime rains have covered the lowlands 
with water, until one can hardly get about, water is but 
little appreciated; but along in August, when, for lack 
of rain, the landscape is brown and vegetation is dying. 



24 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

oh, how we long for and appreciate a few hours of re- 
freshing rain. Thus it is in life. When young and 
happy and nature^s reservoir of vital forces is overflow- 
ing, when life seems to be one endless song of delight, 
time seems to be but little appreciated; but later on, 
upon that sad day when the attending doctor walks away 
from your bed and says, "I can do no more for you,^^ 
when the patient nurse informs the family that it is a 
matter of only a few moments, when earthly scenes and 
faces are slowly — and forever — fading from view, then, 
if not before, a proper value will be placed upon time. 
A man who had allowed time to pass by unheeded, when 
told that he must die, exclaimed, ' ' The world would I 
give if I only had yesterday back again.^' But yesterday 
was forever gone. 

The World a Stage. 

There was a time in my younger days when I thought 
that this great world was a platform upon which life 
acted out its part alone. Every one about me was busy 
and seemed to be full of activity. On the way to school 
with my brother and sister I could see the wild flowers 
growing, and the fields of waving grain appeared like 
animated beings, as the wild winds swayed the tender 
stalks ; the old tree in front of the schoolhouse appeared 
to me like a mighty giant that had defied a thousand 
storms. About that time some event occurred that 
changed the course of my reasoning, for a dark shadow 
suddenly crossed the pathway of my life. First, a little 
boy with whom I had played for years died suddenly, 
which, to me, was a terrible shock. KText I witnessed 
the death of an uncle, and soon my grandfather passed 



THE VALUE OF TIME 25 

away. I remember hearing the minister say at one of 
the funerals that everything which lives must die ; so the 
next day, on my way to school, I said to the wild flow- 
ers, "You, too, must die,^^ and instinctively I knew that 
soon the reaper would cut down the fields of waving 
grain. I said to the big tree, among whose branches the 
birds were singing, "You, too, will feel the sting of 
death.^^ I also marked the sparrow^s fall, 

As I grew older, I became more and more familiar 
with the laws of life and death. Stars die, mayhap. It 
is said that conflagrations have been seen far away in 
the distant ether, so that astronomers have marked the 
funerals of worlds — the consuming of those mighty orbs 
— ^which we had imagined as set forever in sockets of 
silver to glisten as the lamps of eternity — they pass away, 
and are no more. "The sun is no sooner risen with a 
burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower 
thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it per- 
isheth,^^ and the inspired writer, James, continues, that 
the same laws of dissolution are applicable to the human 
race. Broken columns stud the ages, telling the sad 
story of the unfinished work of man. He began, but 
was overtaken by death, and the work was never com- 
pleted. Man is running a race with death. He may 
seek a higher altitude, a balanced ration, and perfect 
sanitation, but he can escape death only temporarily. 
The old must die, but death may be as near the young 
as he is the old; so all should be fully prepared — ^pre- 
pared to meet their God. 

Time a Gift Peom God 
Time is valuable because it is lengthened out to us 



26 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

one hour at a time by a loving Creator. Time is not 
on the market, and can not be bought or sold. The great 
issue before us, however, is not how long we shall live, 
but how^ well. It is not the quantity of time, reckoned 
by months and years, but the quality of our acts, de- 
termined by the motives that prompted us to do and 
say. The story of that queen who, it is alleged, offered 
the wealth of her kingdom for a moment of time is 
worthy of earnest consideration, because those sixty sec- 
onds for which she offered millions, but could not buy, 
were the same measurements of duration which she al- 
lowed to pass idly by, in her former days. I visited the 
studio of a sculptor who had just completed a figure of 
a woman, whose hair was hanging over her face, and 
who had wings under her arms. Astonished at her 
strange appearance, I inquired the meaning, and was 
told that the statue represented Opportunity, which is 
seldom recognized, and when passed has gone forever, 
A Forced Journey 

We had no choice in the selection of our parents nor 
of the beginning of our existence. We find ourselves 
today created intelligences, beings possessed with rea- 
soning faculties, traveling upon a pathway over which 
we can not return. We must go on. We pass this way 
but once; we can not retrace our steps. Immutable 
laws, of both a physical and moral nature, are behind 
us, forever pushing us out into the future, where all 
must go, but from whence none return. 

If one had ten miles to go to catch a train and had 
only sufficient time at his disposal, and if by missing the 
train he would be left behind forever, he certainly would 
improve every moment, and allow no time to be misspent. 



THE VALUE OF TIME 27 

Suppose he should be misdirected and lose ten minutes 
upon a wrong road, what then? He had only time 
enough to make the journey before he lost those valuable 
ten minutes. If he succeeds now^ he must also make up 
lost time, and so he quickens his pace and hurries on. 
It is the same upon the journey of life. Beginning upon 
the day that we cross over that invisible line from child- 
ish innocency to moral accountability to God, we have 
only time enough to gain, the celestial city, if we improve 
every hour, day, and year of our lives. Many (all of us 
adults), sad to say, have been misdirected by the enemy 
of our souls, and have lost much valuable time upon the 
wrong road. If the reader is yet unsaved, he must hasten 
to God while the doors of mercy are still open ; the back- 
slider must arise and quickly return unto his Father's 
house ; and the neglectful Christian must hurry and com- 
plete the task given him to do, before the night comes 
when no man can work. 

Time Fleeting 

In youthful days we look forward with bright antici- 
pation to the time when we shall be full grown and can 
take our place in the business affairs of life. To the 
ambitious child time drags wearily on. Chafing under 
home government and ^^peeved" by little quarrels with 
brothers and sisters, he looks out into the great wide 
world with a longing heart and mind. To him time 
moves as slowly as though drawn by primitive oxen, 
when, alas! he awakens, like one who has overslept in 
the morning, and finds himself a middle-aged man. 
Noiselessly and silently as the snow fell in the night, so 
age had come upon him, and now he rubs his eyes, looks 



28 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

backward, and wonders where the days and years have 
gone. Memory carries him backward to the scenes of 
his youth, where, with father, mother, brothers and sis- 
ters, he passed the golden springtime of life. He longs 
to return to the old home ; but who can turn backward 
the wheels of time? He would be glad to meet with 
those loved ones of long ago, but time has wrought 
great changes, and of most of those whom he loved so 
well — ^yet so little appreciated — it could be written, 
^THEY ARE GONE/' Mute are the lips he ofttimes 
kissed, and stilled are the hearts that one time beat so 
rapidly at his approach, for today they sleep in their 
narrow beds on yonder hillside. 

^^Of all sad words of tongue or pen. 
The saddest are, ^It might have been.' '' 

A friend met me at the depot in a certain city and 
invited me to spend the night at his home. I gladly 
accepted the invitation and spent a pleasant evening with 
the family. A few weeks later I was met at the same 
depot by the same person, and upon this occasion he 
said, "Will you come up to the house?" I noticed the 
peculiar phraseology of his invitation, and when we ar- 
rived at the house, with salty tears running down over 
his cheeks he told me the details of the sudden death of 
his companion, who had so kindly entertained me a few 
weeks before. What stirred the deeper feelings of my 
heart were his words of bitter regret. "Oh, ifv I only 
had her back," he cried, "I would treat her with more 
consideration. The girl whom I took from her parental 
home, who gave her best to me, now lies cold in her 



THE VALUE OF TIME 29 

dusty bed/^ He took me out to the cemetery, and I saw 
the new-made mound all covered with beautiful flowers. 
Nothing in particular was said; but I thought of that 
oft-quoted phrase, ^^A rose to the living is more than 
garlands of flowers to the dead/^ 

The Brevity of Life 

The fathers of old all but exhausted their vocabulary 
in describing the brevity of human existence. They com- 
pared the brief period that we call life to a shadow, 
which now may be seen, and in a moment is gone. One 
writer likens life unto an eagle that hovers over the 
hilltops, watching the unsuspecting quarry, when, sud- 
denly without warning, she darts as swiftly as the light- 
ning's flash, catches, and soars aloft with the lifeless prey. 
They illustrated its brevity by a hand's breadth, a sw^if tly 
moving messenger, and Moses, when reviewing the past, 
declared that we spend our years as a ^^tale that is told.'' 

A babe v^as born into our family some time ago, but 
he lived upon earth only one short day. The sun rose 
and set but once in his short life. Verily, to him life 
was but a step from the cradle to the grave. The sacred 
writer in speaking of a long life-time declared: ^The 
days of our years are three score years and ten; and if 
by reason of strength they be four score years, yet is 
their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, 
and we fly away, ... so teach us to number our 
days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom" (Psa. 
90:10-12). 

The End of Time 
It is appointed unto man to die, and upon that day 



30 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

of physical dissolution, the period of duration we call 
time comes to an end. With the passing of time, the 
door of opportunity also closes forever. Who would dare 
dispute the words of the Master, who declared, ^^Ye 
. . . shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye can not 
come" (John 8:21)? 

Death is not an accident of nature, but comes by in- 
telligent appointment, as a penalty for sin, and for the 
inner man is only a change of location, and not of con- 
dition. At physical death, the dust returns to dust, 
and the spirit returns to God who gave it. The natural 
body is dissolved and returns to its former conditions, 
and may assume other forms in vegetable, animal, or 
mineral ; but the spirit, or soul, of man, being immortal 
(see 2 Cor. 4:16, 18), will live on and on while ceaseless 
ages roll. The Bible speaks clearly upon the subject, 
that there is no power in death or the grave to absolve 
from guilt, for it states emphatically, ^^He that is unjust 
[in life], let him be unjust still [beyond death]. . . . 
he that is holy [in life], let him be holy still [beyond 
death]^^ (Rev. 22:11). Time, then, is man's probation- 
ary period, and to neglect its opportunities of mercy will 
result in eternal loss. 

Reader, your future destiny depends upon the use you 
make of time, so improve it well. 



CHAPTEE III ' 

THE MIRAGE OF EVIL 

One of the peculiar phenomena of nature is called the 
mirage, which is as deceitful as it is beautiful. It is 
an optical illusion, and may be seen on land or sea. It 
is due to reflections of light between two strata of air 
differently heated, and is one of the most singular won- 
ders in nature. Sometimes in the desert there suddenly 
arises in the distance a beautiful body of water upon 
the bosom of which lie enchanted islands, above the top 
of whose woody grove rise, high and stately, the turrets 
of castles, or the minarets of mosques. So realistic, oft- 
times, is this fairy lake that it deceives the natural in- 
stinct of the camel and the analytical reasoning faculty 
of man. 

Once, while returning late at night from a boat ride 
on a lake, we were suddenly and unexpectedly con- 
fronted by an island, so it seemed, which lay directly 
across our path. Knowing, from years of acquaintance 
with that lake, that there was no island in that body of 
water, we watched this remarkable phenomenon with in- 
tenseness and great curiosity. The longer we looked upon 
it, the larger and more distinct it seemed to grow. It being 
late, and knowing well the nature of a mirage, we headed 
for the apparent obstruction, which vanished before us, 
and soon we arrived safely at our destination. 

Sin, also, is deceiving, and like the deceptive mirage, 
it leads the unsuspecting one on, farther and farther 
from home, the paths of duty, virtue, and from God. 
Sin ]mng^ false pictures before the minds and hearts of 



32 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

both young and old — of extreme pleasure in a life of in- 
dulgence, or of enjoyment to be found in the days that 
are yet to come. The enemy of souls is forever making 
promises he can never fulfill. I am convinced beyond a 
reasonable doubt, that if I could interrogate the readers 
of this booklet one by one, their testimony would con- 
fiirm my argument, that sin holds out greater induce- 
ments and promises than it can ever fulfill. To most 
of us the dream of life has not come true. The air- 
castles that we built while we were young have failed to 
materialize, and the bright anticipations have found in 
life's unfoldment more withered leaves than golden fruit. 

The Old Man's Story 

With the aid of a stout cane, the aged pilgrim climbed 
the steps and sat down upon a soft-seated chair. 

^^Stranger,^^ he said to me, ^^I am an old man; but 
once I was young and strong like you. Being normal 
in every way, I decided to make the best of life, so 1 
built my house for future happiness upon the pillars of 
a companion, children, home, and money. I found a 
wife, but was too busy gathering material for a home to 
appreciate her as I should have done. Two children 
came to bless our lives — a boy and a girl — ^but I was 
too busy making and saving money to really appreciate 
those dear little ones. Time sped on, and the birdlings 
flew away. Wife and I were left alone again — verily, the 
two ends of life seemed to have met — and then I dis- 
covered, for the first time, that we were growing old. 
Troubles seldom come single handed, and one month 
following the death of our daughter [here the old man 
wept] came the terrible news that our son had been ac- 



THE MIRAGE OF EVIL 33 

cidently killed^ in a distant State. Our children were 
gone, and thus one of the pillars upon which my house 
of happiness was founded, crumbled, and the whole 
structure accordingly became weakened. My companion 
was a brave little woman, but the loss of both our chil- 
dren gradually worked upon her mind and health, and 
within one short year she, too, passed away." Here the 
old man wept aloud. 

When composed, he continued, ^^Stranger, it was a 
sad day to me, when I laid my wife away up there 
[pointing toward something that I could not see], and 
thus another pillar crumbled and fell. That building 
[pointing to what seemed at a distance to be a mansion] 
used to be our home, b^iit now it is gorgeous emptiness — 
I can not bear to stay in it even for one day. I have 
some money laid by, but what pleasure does it bring to 
me? I am old in years. Most all whom I have loved 
are gone, and I seem to be in everybody's way, so day 
by day I sit here upon the porch alone." 

The whistle blew, announcing the approach of my 
train, so I bade the aged man good bye and hastened 
away. The lesson I learned that day is indelibly 
stamped upon the walls of my memory, and from the 
premise founded on what the old man laid down I de- 
duct that unless we have something more enduring than 
those things mentioned by the aged teacher, we are sure 
to be disappointed down near the end of life's fitful day. 
Solomon, the wisest man who lived prior to the coming 
of our Master, wrote the following words, which contain 
both a promise and a warning: ^^Eemember now thy 
Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days 



34 PEOBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, 
I have no pleasure in them^^ (Ecel. 13:1). 

Deceitfulness of Riches 

By reading carefully the history of nations, we dis- 
cover that, generally, an age of luxury is followed by an 
age of decay. The love of money has been rightly called 
the root of all evil. Men, in their mad rush for gold, 
become so intoxicated, they seemingly forget that a good 
name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and that 
honor, virtue, and character are of more worth than the 
treasures of land and sea. Men will run the risk of 
losing their lives on ice-clad mountains, under tropical 
suns, and down among the coral reefs of the ocean— and 
when the sought-for riches are found, they do not sat- 
isfy. "He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with 
silver.^^ — Bible. 

A young lawyer who had struggled long and hard to 
succeed in his practice, and to build for himself a sub- 
stantial home, at last was employed in a case involving 
nearly one million dollars. His services, upon the per- 
centage basis, would have netted him, possibly, one hun- 
dred thousand dollars. He worked day and night upon 
the problems involved; but one week before he was to 
make his final and, as he hoped, successful effort he was 
stricken down with typhoid fever. He promised his 
faithful physician that he would remember him well, if 
he succeeded in checking the disease. The young lawyer 
grew worse. A consultation of many skilled doctors was 
called, and the sick man told them that he would re- 
member them well, if his life was spared. He still grew 
worse, and feeling that his life was being rapidly con- 



THE MIRAGE OF EVIL 35 

sumed by that awful burning, he called his physician 
into his room and promised him all the money the case 
in question would bring, if he would only see him safely 
through. The faithful doctor told him frankly that he 
could not prescribe for life — only for health. In that 
hour the young lawyer discovered that life was of more 
value than money ; but in search of money he lost both, 
dying while young, and the bright-colored bubble of 
wealth bursting when almost within his grasp. 

It does not appear to me to be the part of wisdom, or 
of prudence, to spend a whole lifetime in the pursuit of 
those things we must leave behind us at the grave. Far 
better would it be that we provide for ourselves bags 
that wax not old — ^treasures beyond the grave, where 
moth does not corrupt, nor thieves break through and 
steal. If the Cascade Mountains were nuggets of silver, 
and the seven seas were liquid gold, and I could possess 
them all by rejecting the Word of God and Jesus Christ, 
I would say, Give me Christ and the fulness of his love, 
and you may have all else beside. To the Christian 
man or woman, Christ is the chief among ten thousand, 
and the One altogether lovely. In him are hid all the 
treasures of riches and wisdom — all things necessary to 
make us both safe and happy. 

Deception of Environment And Social Position 

While distance is supposed to lend enchantment, yet 
all is not gold that glitters. So many times in life we 
are liable to think that if our lot were different, as to 
associates, troubles, and such like, we should be more 
happy and more efficient; but the basis of such reasoning 
is false. If the veil that covers the defects of those 



36 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

things which appear so pleasing and inviting in the dis- 
tance could suddenly be taken away, many times, no 
doubt, we should discover that those nearest us were, 
after all, the truest and best. Thus the mirage of 
environment or of social position leads many away to 
the soul-destroying deserts of discontent. 

The story is told of a girl who, while walking along 
the street one day, wished she had been born a boy, as 
she saw one pass her upon his wheel. The boy, in turn, 
wished that he were grown, so that he could become a 
chauffeur like the man who had just passed by in a huge 
car. The chauffeur wished he were the governor, who 
at that moment was passing, sitting beside his beautiful 
wife. The governor, tired out with the affairs of state, 
with its complex problems, seeing the chauffeur, wished 
that he had no more brain-racking problems to solve 
than the young man sitting idly in the car. The young 
man, being chauffeur for a busy doctor, having no Sun- 
days and few vacations, wished he were a boy again, 
like the one he saw riding on his wheel. The boy, be- 
lieving himself much abused because of an occasional 
task he was asked to perform, wished he had been born 
a girl, like the one he saw passing with a basket on her 
arm, ^Tor then,^^ thought he, ^^all I should have to do 
would be to play the piano and eat chocolate candy." 

A Foolish Girl 

History tells the story of a peasant girl who was beau- 
tiful in features and perfect in form. She was petted, 
courted, and loved by all with whom she associated. Be- 
ing too proud to be contented with her humble surround- 
ings, she ran away to a distant seashore. The king of 



THE MIRAGE OF EVIL 37 

a small country saw her and immediately laid his plans 
to make her his wife. With cunning and great words 
of flattery, he finally persuaded her to go with him and 
become a ^^queen.'^ This so stimulated her self-pride 
that her heart became deceitful and hard. A great 
financial depression came upon that country, and people 
were starving everywhere, while the queen was living in 
luxury. One day a committee went to the royal palace, 
and the spokesman pleaded in earnestness that some 
means be provided by which their mothers, wives, and 
children could be supplied with food. The haughty 
queen replied, ^^If your mothers, wives, and children are 
as hungry as you say, let them eat grass with the horses.^^ 
Those honest men were stung to the quick, and her sar- 
castic, heartless remark sowed a seed that resulted in a 
complete overthrow of that king's authority, and a mob 
broke into the royal palace and, seizing the beautiful but 
heartless queen, cut off her head, stuffed her mouth with 
grass, put her head upon a pole, and carried it through 
the streets of the city. The mirage of inordinate desire 
suddenly disappeared, but not until her frail bark had 
been wrecked upon uncharted rocks. 

Napoleon Bonaparte 

That great general, Napoleon Bonaparte, was deceived 
twice in life. While he was leading his army through 
the northern part of Africa, it was necessary for them to 
pass over a portion of the ^reat Sahara Desert. His 
soldiers had been hoarding their scant supply of water; 
but seeing a small lake, as he supposed, a few miles in 
advance. Napoleon gave permission for them to drink all 
the water they had in their canteens. After marching 



38 PROBLEMS OF ETEENAL MOMENT 

for hours and getting no nearer the supposed lake, he 
ordered a halt, and said to one of his generals, "We have 
been following a mirage/^ and it was true. He was de- 
ceived again when he thought he could conquer the 
world. His power was overthrown and he was impris- 
oned a short time at Elba. Escaping, he commanded an- 
other army, hoping to conquer England. He was mis- 
taken. No man could conquer the world who was not 
able to conquer himself. He had received the two high- 
est honors his country and religion could bestow: He 
was proclaimed First Consul of France, the highest civil 
honor his country could give. The pope set aside a 
church rule by leaving the Vatican to attend his corona- 
tion in Paris — the highest ecclesiastical honor the church 
could bestow upon such an occasion. Intoxicated and 
hypnotized by the mirage of sin, he marched blindly on, 
and met his final military defeat at Waterloo, and soon 
was sent into exile. He landed at St. Helena on Oct. 
15, 1815. He died in 1821, and his body remained on 
that dreary island until 1840. He died the same as the 
pirate died and the wild flowers bloomed above the 
graves of the two characters — one who defied the laws 
of civilization, and the other who might have given to 
history her brightest page. 

Eeader, in what direction are you traveling ? Who is 
your leader? Many are following the mirage of evil, 
but that way leads down into the valley where disap- 
pointment and remorse of conscience ever await ; it leads 
down to the borderland of eternal woe ; it leads to death. 
By following Christ the soul is led upward and onward, 
above and beyond the sun-kissed mountains of earth and 



THE MIRAGE OF EVIL 39 

time, until, at last, it reaches the heavenly country, 
where friendship is real, companions are true, and where 
love shall never die. 



CHAPTEE IV 

AN INDELIBLE RECORD 

The solemn fact that a complete record is being kept 
of all of life's activities should cause ns to stop and con- 
sider well; to cause us not only to watch our outward 
acts, but to weigh carefully the motives which underlie 
each thought and deed. In order that our minds and 
hearts be fully convinced that such an account is being 
kept, I v^^ill give a few quotations from the Word of 
God: "Eejoice, young man, in thy youth; and let 
thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk 
in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine 
eyes, but knOw thou [remember], that for all tJiese 
things God vrill bring thee into judgment" (Eccl. 11: 
9). ''Then they that feared the Lord spake often one 
to another : and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and 
a book of remembrance was written before him for 
them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his 
name" (Mai. 3 : 16). ''As I live, saith the Lord, every 
knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to 
God. So then every one of us shall give an account of 
himself to God" (Rom. 14: 11, 12). "Let us hear the 
conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep 
his commandments : for this is the whole duty of man. 
For God shall bring every work into judgment, with 
every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it 
be evil" (Eccl. 12:13,14). We should ever keep in 
mind the solemn thought that the Bible is the voice of 
God speaking to mankind, from out vast eternity, and 
in the words of international law, it is God's ultima- 



42 PEOBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

turn to the family of earth — ^from its promises, pro- 
hibitions, and decisions there is no appeal. 

Moving-Picture Camera 
In the days of old^ rich men had observation-stations 
situated near the center of their great plantations, from 
which elevation they could watch the laborers performing 
their different tasks. It is supposed that it was while 
watching his employees from one of these observation 
posts that the father in the parable was enabled to see 
the prodigal son ^Vhen he was yet a great way off /^ The 
Lord is not only watching the whole human family, but 
he is observing us as individuals. The eyes of the Lord 
run to and fro upon the earth, beholding the evil and 
the good, as if with a moving-picture camera focused 
upon us; every movement of every hour of the day is 
recorded — and the Lord will not forget. 

Eecord is Indestructible 

That record of our actions which is being kept beyond 
the sky is written upon eternal parchments, and thus 
can not be destroyed, as though recorded upon paper, 
stone, or steel. When a purchase is made at the market, 
the cashier presses certain keys of the cash register, and 
the cash account of the sale is recorded upon the inside 
roll, and also indicated above where the purchaser can 
see if a mistake has been made. The same principle is 
set forth in God^s dealings with men. As soon as Cain 
killed his brother Abel, God came down and made the 
startling announcement that ^^the voice of thy brother^s 
blood crieth unto me from the ground'^ (Gen. 4:10). It 
should make us think soberly and seriously when we re- 



AN INDELIBLE RECORD 43 

member that JSTature is keeping an exact account of our 
activities^ and that some day she will reveal her secret, 
although it may be long delayed. 

Repetition may give emphasis, but it does not add to 
facts or truths. To repeat a dozen times that the square 
root of the sum of the squares of the base and perpendi- 
cular equals the hypotenuse, would not add to its fact, 
and similarly, when the Bible affirms a truth, one state- 
ment is sufficient. Therefore, from the premise laid 
down we deduct, that if the blood of one man cries from 
the ground for justice, then the blood of all whose lives 
have been cut short by the assassin's hand have registered 
a protest, and their voices are calling, ever calling, for 
justice and redress. 

All the bloodj that has been shed down through the 
ages because of man 's inhumanity to his fellow men is 
today crying from the ground. Nature's laws are un- 
alterable, and she might truthfully declare, like Pilate of 
old, to those guilty ones who are apologizing and offer- 
ing her bribes, "What I have written I have v^ritten" 
(John 19:22.) What an awful record humanity must 
meet on that great judgment day ! If all the blood that 
has been shed from the dawn of creation unto this pres- 
ent time could be gathered and congealed, its crimson 
blocks would make a monument so vast that it would 
add another wonder to the world. If a memorial slab 
could be placed over the grave of each person who has 
been murdered, postnatal or prenatal, it would make a 
cemetery so large that the inhabitants of the world would 
be startled and amazed. 

If there is one crime more cowardly than another, it 
consists in the wilful, premeditated murder of an un- 



44 PEOBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

born child. Those little ones in their undeveloped, em- 
bryonic state have rights of moral citizenship which God 
and nature acknowledge^ and which must be respected, 
by the state and by the individual. Far more honorable 
would it be for one murderously inclined to go out 
hunting for adults to kill, rather than to attack from 
ambush unsuspecting human beings who have no chance 
to defend themselves against a murderous assault. In 
that day when nature's secrets shall be ^^shouted aloud 
upon the housetops/' what aji awful sight it would be 
to behold there millions of little ones pointing their bone- 
less, bloodless fingers in identification of those who gave 
consent to the abrupt ending of their earthly lives ! 

A Completed Eecord 

Every act of injustice done by man to his fellow man, 
unless repented of and made right, cries to the God of 
justice for redress. ^^Behold, the hire of the laborers 
who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept 
back by fraud, crieth : and the cries of them which have 
reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sab- 
aoth'' (Jas. 5:4). A complete record of all we do is 
being kept upon the walls of memory. We seemingly 
forget many of the details of life's activities; yet from 
time to time they suddenly return to us as vividly as 
though they had taken place but yesterday, thus proving 
that whatever clearly enters our minds, and to whatever 
matter we give consent, these are photographed upon 
memory's eternal walls. 

Some time ago a lady in a delirious state of mind re- 
peated event after event, as accurately as though she 
were at that moment passing through their various de- 



AN INDELIBLE RECORD 45 

tails. After her recovery she was astonished, and morti- 
fied, that those secret things of her past life had been 
discovered, and she was still more surprised v^hen she 
learned that those very secrets (which she admitted as 
true) were related by her own lips, while in that deliri- 
ous state caused by typhoid fever. Be sure your sin will 
find you out. The story of the drowning man before 
whose eyes there passed in even succession all the events 
of his past life, has been used by writers for years, and 
confirms the fact that memory, as an expert accountant, 
is assisting in the record-keeping department of life. 

Too Many Records 

Reputation is that common estimation of the qualities 
we are supposed to possess, and most of us would be glad 
to have that record kept in sight. Character is not al- 
together what people think us to be, but what we really 
are at heart — what God knows to be true in our lives. 
Reputation is formed by our acting, but character is 
formed by choosing. There is only one side to a Chris- 
tian's life — although looked upon from God above, seen 
by his fellow man, and known by himself. Some who 
would be glad to have their companions and employers 
behold their record as known by reputation, would shrink 
if those about them could see the book of character. 
God knows how many hours of the employer's time have 
been squandered; how many dollars of other people's 
money have been pocketed; how many marriage vows 
have been broken ; how many false affidavits made — God 
knows, and he will not forget. Oh ! what will the judg- 
ment day reveal? What an awful day of reckoning it 
will be ! There is only one way of escape for the guilty 



46 PEOBLBMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

soul, and that is in Jesus Christ. The Bible speaks of 
some men's sins being open beforehand, that is, going 
before to judgment, and it also speaks of some whose 
sins, like a dark cloud, are following behind. Eeader, 
if your record is not clean, you had better make haste 
and get right with God. Tomorrow's sun may never rise 
for you. Today, if you hear his voice, if you feel his 
wooing Spirit, be reconciled to God. In words of assur- 
ance, there comes to every troubled soul — ^^If we con- 
fess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us,'' and 
when we ask and believe he declares, "I will remember 
them against you no more forever." 



CHAPTEE V 
THE LOVE OF GOD 

The love of God is so great in its endless ramifications 
that it can not be fully comprehended or explained by- 
finite man. In fact, if it were possible to bring the 
love of God into language, it would bring it into limita- 
tions. The love of God is infinite, and inexhaustible. 
It is limitless, boundless, and unchangeable. It reaches 
beyond the stars, is wider than the skies, and is deeper 
than the seas. 

^^Could we with ink the ocean fill, 
Were all the skies of parchment made, 
Were every blade of grass a quill. 
And every man a scribe by trade — 
To write the love of God to man 
Would drain the ocean dry, 
Nor could the scroll contain the whole. 
Though 'stretched from sky to sky/ " 

Some things are considered great because of their dis- 
tance, like the farthest star in the heavens; or because 
of their grandeur, like the snow^-clad Alps of Switzer- 
land: because of their endurance, like the p3rramids in 
Egypt ; or because of their volume, as the mighty ocean. 
But the love of God is greater than anything our eyes 
can behold. Everything in the great universe speaks of 
the love of God to mankind. Although not understood, 
perhaps, yet the love of God is beaming forth from every 
flower in the valley, from the rugged rocks, and from the 



48 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

highest mountain-peak. The voice of nature is ever 
speaking of the love of God to man ; but it can not tell 
us how much he loves us, nor to what extent. It took 
Jesus Christ to tell us how much God really loves the 
world. 

Many things are better understood by comparison than 
by abstract reasoning, and thus we more easily compre- 
hend the great distance to the sun by comparing dis- 
tances. For example : It is 1,000 miles from Chicago, 
111., to New York City, N. Y. ; 28,000 miles around the 
earth; 240,000 miles to the moon; and 93,000,000 miles 
to the sun. With respect to power, one man can draw 
10 men; a horse can draw 50 men; a locomotive can 
draw 5,000; a steamboat 30,000. The power of inertia 
keeps the world turning upon its axis at the rate of 16 
miles a minute, and speeding through space at the tre- 
mendous rate of I8I/2 miles a second. And behind all 
this great universe in its multiform complexity is the 
great power of God. Who can comprehend it? Thank 
God, his love is as great as his power. 

The love of God is so boundless that we are staggered 
with amazement, and ofttimes fail to comprehend its 
true greatness and intrinsic worth to us as individuals. 
We will employ the comparative method in discussing 
his great love. A child^s love for its brother or sister 
is as pure as the drewdrops upon a rosebud, at the dawn 
of day. It is simple, honest, and true ; but in after years 
it can become so cold that even the address of the ones 
so well loved in youth is forgotten. A father^s love is 
stronger than that of a brother to his brother, and that 
tie of affection between father and child is strong, ten- 
der, and true. 



THE LOVE OF GOD 49 

A Touching Incident and a Father's Love 
When I was two years of age I followed my father 
through the deep snow step by step out into a large 
forest, not thinking of the danger there might be 
along the way. Becoming tired, I sat down in the snow, 
which by that time had nearly covered my father's 
tracks. I was lost in a winter^s storm, in the woods, 
and no one knew where to look for me, for my tracks 
were covered by the raging storm. Frantically my mother 
searched in every conceivable nook and corner; but I 
could not be found. Father was working in the lumber 
woods, and all that forenoon he felt impressed that 
something was wrong at home. He was uneasy. So 
acting upon intuition he started for home. 

The snow lay everywhere in great white drifts. In- 
stead of taking the short cut home, he took the longer 
route — ^he felt impressed to go the way he came to work. 
He hurried on; but it seemed he could not go fast 
enough. Suddenly, before him in his pathway, he beheld 
a little arm projecting out of the drifting snow. As- 
tonished beyond expression, he leaped to the spot, and 
quickly but tenderly uncovered a half-frozen little boy. 
He took in the situation at a glance. The boy had fol- 
lowed him in his footsteps, before the sweeping storm 
had obliterated his tracks; possibly the child had been 
lying there for hours. Father afterward said the hot 
tears so blinded his eyes that he could scarcely see. But 
it was no time for emotion, action was what was needed, 
so off came overcoat, sweater, and every needful garment, 
and the little boy was wrapped up and was soon safe at 
home. Even to this day I feel a peculiar strangeness 
creep over me when I think of what might have been. 



50 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

When I look at my own dear boys and think of my fath- 
er 's experience, I can more readily comprehend a fath- 
er's pity and warm love for his child. 

A Mother's Love 

There is, however, another love which far surpasses 
that of brother for brother, or father for his child, and 
that is a mother's love. A mother's love surpasses every 
other earthly element. It was she who felt the first 
quickening impulse of the new life that was to be. It 
was she to whom our infant eyes were first uplifted, and 
the name ^^mamma'' was the first word that fell from 
our lips. It was she who waited at midnight when the 
candle of life flickered, and when the issue like a pen- 
dulum swung between life and death. Her love is the 
connecting link which binds humanity together. Hu- 
manity never comes so near the Divine as when ma- 
ternity is wrapped in holy human love. The sister turns 
away from her wayward brother; the father's pity has 
its limitations, and soon he says, ^^Go, you are a dis- 
grace to my name and to my family" ; but, 

^^My mother's prayers have followed me. 
Have followed me the whole world through." 

The wicked world turns from the haggard, disgraced 
man. He is put in prison, and despised by society and 
former companions. But mother visits him still. She 
kneels outside when the gallows' trap drops that day, 
and prays as only a mother can pray that God, some 
way, somehow, will forgive her wayward boy. She 
combs his hair, places a rose upon his breast, kisses his 



THE LOVE OF GOD 51 

darkened brow, and then at last puts a wreath upon his 
grave. Verily she was first to greet him in this life, and 
the last one to leave him in death. Can there be a 
greater love than this ? 

The Love of God is Unbounded 

God^s love for the world of mankind is proved first 
in the fact of man's creation. Temporal things are but 
visible expressions of what existed before in the great 
mind and love of God. God longed for communion and 
fellowship, and for a love that was not, so he conceived 
the plan of the world's creation and the bringing into 
existence of the human race. Man is the only being 
upon the earth possessed with a moral sense and quali- 
ties and capabilities for knowing God. Man was made 
for the glory of God, that was the only reason for his 
being brought into existence. Into the history of the 
human family, sin entered, and, by it, death has reigned 
down through the ages. God had made a decree that sin 
committed would produce death, and that law could not 
be revoked. The human family sinned, and, hence, the 
sentence of death was passed upon all. 

Was all to be lost ? Was there no escape ? Was eternal 
death to be the final doom of all of Adam's race ? The 
destiny of mankind was sealed, unless a sacrifice, or 
atonement, could be secured, or a satisfaction made. A 
decree had gone forth that without the shedding of 
blood there could be no forgiveness granted. The blood 
of animals had been shed; but it was pronounced too 
weak to atone for sins which were infinite in their na- 
ture. The one whom we call Christ was with the Father ; 
but he could not atone for men's sins. The world was 



52 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

searched, and no person found suitable: a man might 
have offered his own blood; but God had said, "None 
of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to 
God a ransom for him : for the redemption of their soul 
is precious'' (Psa. 49:7, 8). The inhabitants of the un- 
seen world could offer nothing, for they were also en- 
quiring and waiting for an atonement to be made. As 
a last expedient, God volunteered to give his Son, but 
a special body had to be prepared. So, in the fulness 
of time, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, 
being born of Mary, in distant Judea. Thus, "we see 
Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for 
the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; 
that he by the grace of God should taste death for every 
man'' (Heb. 2:9). 

God could have allowed the world of rebels to have 
gone on to swift and eternal judgment, without reflect- 
ing upon his character; but mercy stepped in, in the 
person of Jesus Christ. Viewed from the Father's stand- 
point, we see his Son in a dark and sin-benighted world, 
unloved and unappreciated by those whom he came to 
save. In the Garden of Gethsemane he took the cup of 
the world's bitterness and avtrful sins, and cried unto the 
Father, ^^If it be thy will let this cup pass." God heard 
the cry of his Son; but the price must be paid. The 
foxes have holes, the birds have nests, but he had no 
place to lay his head. He sweat, as it were, great drops 
of blood. Must he go on to the end? They will spit 
upon him, and place a crown of thorns upon his head, 
which grew because of that awful curse — ^the curse from 
which he came to save. Must he be nailed to the cross 
and die? Must he hang there between two thieves. 



THE LOVE OF GOD 53 

with no one to pity, no one to care or comfort ? Imagine 
your own dear son to be in a heathen country, suffering 
such agony, and calling for help from you ! 

Alone in the Garden he bowed his head and said, "Not 
my will, but thine be done/^ He drank that cup of 
suffering in our stead, and carried our sins. They nailed 
him to the cross with nails and spikes, and hooted and 
sneered. The Father was watching that dreadful scene, 
but he so loved the world that he gave his only Son. 
When the time was come for him to die, he cried, "My 
Grod, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?^^ and bowed 
his head and died — ^not like a philosopher, statesman, or 
poet, but as a man. He died, not altogether because of 
his wounds, but also of the burden of the world. Not 
only did God volunteer to give his Son, but also Christ 
volunteered to give his life. 

Gave His Life for His King 

History records the story of a Eussian monarch who 
with his wife and driver was overtaken by wolves in a 
large forest in Eussia. When nearly surrounded by the 
hungry beasts, the czar ordered that one of the 
horses be cut loose. It was done, and soon the noble 
animal was devoured. When surrounded again, another 
horse was cut loose, and it was soon devoured as was the 
other. As no more horses could be spared, the faithful 
driver proposed that he jump out and fight the famished 
pack single handed, until his majesty and queen made 
their escape. Since there was danger of all losing their 
lives, the king at last, although reluctantly, gave consent. 
Before the driver jumped he made one request, that 
his wife and family be protected in case he was over- 



54 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

come. The lines were given to the sovereign, and with a 
revolver in each hand the faithful servant leaped. The 
czar and his wife heard a few shots ring out and heard 
some shrieks and growls as they sped away for safety. 
Shortly they met a body of men who, fearing danger, 
were coming to escort their monarch to safety. The czar 
told the story quickly; and when the men reached the 
spot where the faithful servant had jumped, they found 
seven dead wolves, but all that was left of the man were 
a few shining bones. They all wept aloud, and gave 
great honor to such a faithful friend. There stands 
today in distant Russia a marble slab upon which is writ- 
ten, ^^Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay 
down his life for a friend.^' The giving of one^s life for 
a friend marks the climax of human love; but even 
greater is the love of 

The King Who Died For His People 
In St. John 15 :10 it reads, ^^Greater love hath no man 
than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends,'^ 
Humanly speaking, Christ also reached the maximum of 
human love, for he said, ^^I am the good shepherd : the 
good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep" (John 
10:11). But Christ's love was still greater than human 
love. In Rom. 5 :7, 8, 6, Paul in writing of the magni- 
tude of Christ's love declared: ^^Por scarcely for a 
righteous man will one die : yet peradventure for a good 
man some would even dare to die. But God commend- 
eth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, 
Christ died for us. For when we were yet without 
strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." 
I have not read in history of another case where a man 



THE LOVE OP GOD 55 

laid down his life for an enemy. Oh, such wondrous 
love! Christ dying for men when they were not only 
unholy, but unthankful! He lifted the sentence of 
death from all mankind who will repent and believe the 
gospel. Such momentous facts should soften a heart of 
stone. 

To the mighty influence of Grod's love we are indebted 
for everything beautiful and desirable in the creation of 
nature and for its continuance. Divine love is an in- 
visible cord ever drawing man toward his maker; and 
human love, when not perverted, is a counterpart of the 
divine, a mystic, potential influence drawing together 
the human souls of mankind. Upon the broad founda- 
tion of love, empires have been founded; and without 
that vital element, scepters have been lost and the earth 
drenched with blood. To the warming influences of the 
love of God, and its impelling power, can be credited all 
lasting development of body, mind, and soul. The des- 
tiny of the human family hinges upon love. It is the 
mainspring of all useful endeavor, and the natural har- 
monizer of all things human. It is indispensable. Left 
to itself without the touch of a loving hand, the culti- 
vated flower would lose its rare formation and per- 
fume and go back to common type. So it is with man ; 
for without the softening, uplifting, expanding influ- 
ences of a Divine hand, he would degenerate and finally 
die. ^Tjike as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord 
pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame, 
he remembereth that we are dust.'^ 

Sinner, Jesus Christ stands today with outstretched 
arms of mercy ; in loving tones he bids you come to him, 
and rest. 



56 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

Do not allow this day to pass without making your 
peace with God. The voice of God has heen ringing 
down through the ages^ saying to lost men everywhere : 
Behold, I have stretched out my hand all day long, but 
few have heeded. Turn you at my reproof. In the day 
you call upon me I will answer, and your sins I will re- 
member no more forever. 

The Love of God 

The glory of the world belongs to Love, 

Its voice was heard in forming earth and sea ; 
In every scented flower and sheltered cove 

Is heard the chanting of its melody. 
On darkest day of life we hear it sing, 

In mansion, or the cot beside the hill ; 
As the lilies of the valley ever spring. 

The weary, saddened heart with joy to fill. 

mighty element, thou Love of God ! 

Thou shalt exist when Time has gone to sleep. 
When earthly things on which our feet have trod 

Have passed, and hopes, which now our hearts do keep. 
Are realized, thou shalt continue on 

To bring new joys, destroying every pain. 
Like as the ocean tides so great and strong 

Ebb and return unto the shore again. 

The love of God is great and wide and free ; 

Eternally its nature is the same; 
All things which seem so wrapped in mystery 

Unfold at but the naming of its name. 
Cloud after cloud may hide love from the world, 



THE LOVE OF GOD 57 

The Bmoke of battle oft its beauty mar; 
But at the last triumphant it will rise. 

To shine beyond the last dim distant star. 



CHAPTEE VI 
PREPARE TO MEET THY GOD 

Amos, the third of the minor prophets, lived in a lit- 
tle village called Tekoa, a few miles south of Jerusalem. 
Two years before a mighty earthquake shook the land 
of sacred memories, he wrote a book in which he warned 
the proud people of his day that God was still upon the 
throne, and would some day call men to give an account 
of all transgressions of his law. This holy writer re- 
minded them of the pestilence in Egypt, of the de- 
struction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, of the 
evils of their day ; and then, catching prophetic inspira- 
tion, declared in the name of the Lord, "Therefore thus 
will I do unto thee: . . . prepare to meet thy God, 
Israel.'^ This seems like a military challenge from the 
Almighty, that they quickly muster all their forces, call 
upon their idol gods for assistance, and hasten out to 
meet a sudden attack by the Lord of Hosts. "Prepare," 
he cried, which meant immediate action, "to meet thy 
God"; and then he gives a powerful description of the 
majesty of the One whom they were to meet, namely, the 
One who formed the mountains of the earth and who, 
when traveling across the world, steps from peak to 
peak. The One who created the winds which, when an- 
gry, level everything on land, and lash the mighty ocean 
into foam; the One who created light and darkness and 
who declares unto man the secret thoughts of his heart. 
Who is this One they were to prepare to meet? JEHO- 
VAH-ELOHIM-TSEBAOTH, that is his name— the 
self -existing, eternal God, the unconquerable One. 



60 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

Preparation is Reasonable 
Business men everywhere recognize the expediency of 
preparing to settle accounts with the banker, the baker, 
the butcher, the merchant. They prepare to settle estates 
through the orphans^ court, and to obtain redress 
through the methods of legal jurisprudence. The suc- 
cessful doctor does not diagnose or prescribe in a hap- 
hazard way, nor does the music instructor teach at 
random. Preparation is necessary to success in all the 
endless branches of human endeavor, and preparation is 
generally made in proportion to the magnitude of the 
objective in mind. But little preparation is made to 
entertain a tramp when we see him entering the yard, 
but it is different when w^ see a neighbor coming up 
the walk; and we make still greater preparation if 
mother, whom we have not seen for years, is coming to 
visit us. If the county judge, the governor of the State, 
the President, or a king were coming to call upon us, 
preparation would be made according to the greatness 
of the one whom we were to meet. Amos informs us 
of the solemn fact that some time we are to meet God. 
We should, indeed, feel embarrassed should a king or a 
president step into our home when we were unprepared, 
and how much more so would we feel should the Lord, 
the King of all the earth, suddenly call upon us ! The 
Lord is reasonable, for he has sent us word that he is 
coming, so that we may not be taken unawares. These 
words, spoken nearly eight hundred years before Christ, 
are applicable to sinful men in every age. 

Could Not be Comforted 
A sinner who had trifled all his lifetime with the 



PEEPARE TO MEET THY GOD 61 

sweet Spirit of God, who had rejected every offer of 
mercy, who had repeatedly refused to accept Christ as 
his personal Savior, when dying began to cry pitifully. 
A friend who stood beside his bed bade him to be of 
good cheer ; but the dying man, between sobs, explained 
that if he had broken only a statute law and was to 
meet merely an earthly judge it would concern him but 
little, for the judge might show mercy, or, if he were 
condemned, he should be placed in only an earthly 
prison, and that he might bribe the sheriff or dig under 
the wall. "But,'^ he confessed, "I have broken a moral 
law, I have committed sin that is infinite in its nature, 
and, with mercy slighted all my life and every door of 
opportunity closed, I fall into the hands of an angry 
God and he will shut me up in a dungeon prisonhouse 
forever, where no ray of light shall ever penetrate, and 
where the sweet voice of mercy shall never be heard,'^ and 
with a scream he died and his poor soul went out into 
the great eternity — unprepared to meet his God. 

Why Unprepared? 

Sin entered into the history of mankind soon after the 
creation, and God alone knows its awful work. It has 
broken the tender ties of parental love, dragged virtue 
off her high plane, broken up millions of homes, and 
changed the world that God made so beautiful into a 
cemetery so vast that if a tombstone were erected over 
every grave it would startle the world. Sin is the 
enemy of both God and men. It took the blood of 
Jesus Christ to build a bridge over the chasm sin made 
between men and God. Man was made to know and 
Worship God — that is his normal state. Nothing else 



62 PEOBLEMS OF ETEENAL MOMENT 

will satisfy the longing soul. History has proved 
the sad fact that man apart from God is unhappy 
and undone. It was to correct this sad condition 
that Jesus came to earth. If the great sphinx that 
stands today in Egypt by the Eiver Nile could open 
its stone mouth, having watched the ebb and flow 
of humanity for centuries, having seen the rise and 
fall of empires, the usurpation of crowns, and the 
breaking of hearts, it would tell us that without God 
all is vanity and wasted effort. 

Why be so Interested ? 

We need not enter into an exhaustive discourse to 
prove the fact that death is upon the track of every one 
of us, for we see the funeral train pass almost every day 
— cemeteries are growing larger. Broken columns stand 
all along our pathway as solemn indexes, pointing to 
the unfinished work of man ; ^^They began to work/^ they 
seem to say to us, ^^but were overtaken by death before 
their work was completed.^^ That plow which stands 
rusting in yonder field; that garment unsewed; that 
picture in outline; and that vacant chair, speak to us 
softly or in thunder tones that sooner or later all must 
die. Strong vitality may prolong life, yet, in time, every 
man and woman will feel the hand of death. In deep 
caverns skeletons are found of prehistoric men, and 
mummified bodies are found in pyramids of stone. 
Translated hieroglyphic characters speak of the life, hap- 
piness, death, and hope of immortality beyond the grave 
of those whose hearts are still. There is an inherent 
hope in every heart that speaks o:? a life beyond, and 
that hope is as real as life itself. Jesus did not correct 



PEEPARB TO MEET THY GOD 63 

that belief, but sustained it when he said, "Let not your 
heart be troubled. ... In my Father's house are 
many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told 
you/' 

"Heaven is a holy place, 
Filled with glory and with grace; 
Sin can never enter there.'' 

How Shall We Prepare? 

Malachi was the last of the Jewish prophets and he 
lived and wrote about four hundred years before Christ, 
or at the beginning of that period Imown to Bible stu- 
dents as Israel's dark night. Just prior to his death, 
which occurred about 409 B. C, v^hen about seventy 
years of age, he gave utterance to his last prophecy in 
the following words : "Behold, I will send you Elijah 
the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful 
day of the Lord; and he shall turn the heart of the 
fathers to the children, and the heart of the children 
to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a 
curse" (Mai. 4:5,6). About four hundred years later 
a priest by the name of Zacharias was burning incense 
in the temple when an angel appeared and informed 
him that his wife Elizabeth should bear him a son, 
and that many should rejoice at his birth, and the 
angels further stated, '^And many of the children 
of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And 
he shall go before him [Christ] in the spirit and 
power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to 
the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the 
just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord" 
(Luke 1;16, 17). 



64 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

Preparing the Way 

Matthew's account of the sudden appearing of John 
the Baptist, of whom Malachi prophesied, is both inter- 
esting and instructive. ^^In those days came John the 
Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and say- 
ing, Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 
. . . Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths 
straight'^ (Matt. 3:1-3). The substance of his sermons 
was, "Repent." Upon one occasion, as he was journey- 
ing in the country around Jordan, preaching repentance 
for the remission of sins, he waxed indignant at their 
seeming unconcern and boldly declared, "0 generation 
of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to 
come? Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repent- 
ance'^ (Luke 3:3-8). The preaching of that humble 
man of God was so accompanied by the mighty power 
of God that the whole country was awakened, and they 
began to inquire how to prepare to meet the Lord. They 
had become conscious of the awful fact that they were 
exposed to the judgments of the Almighty God, and they 
flocked to John for advice and help. Repentance com- 
prehends an awakening to the awful effects of sin against 
the great love of God. It enables lost men to understand 
that their attitude in sin is one of open rebellion against 
the law of God. Their eyes become open to the fact that 
their lives are being wasted, and the purpose of their 
existence nullified. 

When thus awakened, they are sorry for the wrong 
stand they have taken against God, who all along has 
been their best friend, and they decide to quit the 
paths of wrong forever. In sorrow, they ask God to 
kindly forgive them, with a promise to serve him 



PREPARE TO MEET THY GOD 65 

faithfully the rest of their lives. As soon as one 
believes the Lord has forgiven, a calm, sweet peace 
enters the soul. The burden of sin is lifted, and 
the Spirit of God witnesses to the new-bom man 
that, indeed, he is a child of God. The forgiven 
person enters into a new day — a day, thank God, 
that has no evening, for the Christian's sun never 
goes down. With respect to repentance and prep- 
aration the Bible is very definite, as will be seen by 
the following texts : ^^Eepent ye, and believe the gospeF' 
(Mark 1:15). ^^Eepent ye therefore, and be converted, 
that your sins may be blotted out^^ (Acts 3 :19). 

Men in all ages have felt the need of God. They have 
longed for something that is higher, wider, and deeper 
than the world can bestow. In search for that satisfy- 
ing power they threw out their anchor, and it fastened 
to a creed ; but during the storm it tore loose, and they 
were swept out to sea. They tried again, and their an- 
chor fastened to a saint; but the saint died and they 
drifted on. In despair they tried again, and this time 
their anchor fastened to the Rock — ^to Jesus Christ — 
and it held fast in every storm; it holds today, and it 
will hold fast forever. 

Reader, prepare to meet thy God. 



CHAPTEK VII 

THE VOICE OF CONSCIENCE 

The subject under discussion at once invites our most 
careful consideration, because the voice of conscience 
will have much to do with our pleasure or pain when 
time shall have past and eternity's ages roll on and on. 
All scientists agree with the Bible that man is ^^fearfuUy 
and wonderfully made/^ The human body is a marvel- 
ous mechanism, and is, in fact, the highest work of God 
relative to material substances and forms. Within the 
body of man there are hundreds of vital systems and 
arrangements, which work automatically, making possi- 
ble our existence and physical and moral progress. There 
is an apparatus which automatically controls the heat 
supply of the body, and thus men are enabled to live 
under the blazing sun in the tropical zone, in the tem- 
perate zones, or on the ice-bound coasts of Northern 
Greenland. There is a mechanism within the ear, the 
fluid acting like a carpenter's spirit level, enabling man 
to walk erect and keep balanced even with his eyes 
closed. Over ninety per cent of the processes that keep 
us alive, and which are absolutely necessary to our life 
and health, keep working on within us, both day and 
night, and without our knowing anything about them. 

A Moral Sense in Man 

There is v^ithin us a mysterious force that regulates 
the mind and soul, making possible our moral and spirit- 
ual development. Next to the soul, the most marvelous 
thing about a human being is his conscience. It is na- 



THE VOICE OF CONSCIENCE 67 

tive and resident in the soul, a kind of an inborn sense 
of right and wrong, which judges the moral character 
of our actions and motives, approving or disapproving 
as the case may be. This tribunal is universally estab- 
lished within every man, civilized or barbarian. (See 
Rom. 2 :15) . We do not need to enter into an exhaustive 
treatise to prove to the reader that conscience has an 
existence, for he has heard that voice speak ofttimes, in 
tones even more severe than any earthly judge. Like as 
a watchman upon the walls of an ancient city kept vigils 
while the inhabitants slept, so conscience watches near 
the citadel of the soul, and sounds an alarm when subtle 
foes seek to do harm; or it may give credentials to an- 
gels of love who would seek to make better, advance, or 
improve the heart. Without its softening, elevating in- 
fluence, the race of man would soon deteriorate to the 
level of the brute creation. 

Man vs. Beast 

In the jungle wilds, the savage beast attacks another, 
kills it, and in triumph walks away, leaving the carcass 
lying upon the ground ; but when Cain killed his brother 
Abel, conscience began its ceaseless grind, and the wrath 
of God pursued the poor man as he fled. Oh, awful 
condition ! Picture in your mind a man running away 
from home into a strange country, with the voice of his 
brother's blood crying from the ground, an outraged 
conscience lashing from within, and the voice of an 
angry God thundering from the sky. Is it any wonder 
that he cried, "My punishment is greater than I can 
bear'^ ? It is moral force of conscience that makes possi- 
ble the high degree of civilization which we enjoy today. 



68 PEOBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

If twenty average men were adrift upon a raft one 
thousand miles at sea, where no civil power could see or 
reach, they would all die of hunger and thirst before 
they would kill and eat their fellow men. Why? The 
voice of conscience could still be heard. There is no 
cavern so deep, nor asylum so secluded, where the 
eyes of God can not see, nor the voice of conscience 
be heard. 

Behind the Bars 

The criminal may dodge the policeman for a while, 
but he can not run away from his conscience ; and it is 
because of that fact that the detective never gives up the 
search. He knows that the grinding of that internal 
voice will, in time, wear down the most stubborn will. 
It is a common practise among detectives to put an ac- 
complice in justice into the cell with the man suspected 
of crime, and the detective in disguise educates the sus- 
pected man^s conscience by bemoaning his supposed 
crime, and by telling of the awful remorse of conscience 
he feels. Ofttimes before the dawn of the coming day 
the guilty man begins to talk and tell of his own crimes, 
for he can not help it, driven and lashed to a confession 
by conscience. This moral judge is more than a common 
meddler, or constructive critic; it is clothed with eternal 
vestment, and its voice will be heard in the settlement 
of every question of moral jurisprudence. 

Conscience Fund 

While visiting Washington, D. C, some time ago, we 
were shown the building where what is known as the 
"Conscience Fund'^ was kept. The guide informed us 



THE VOICE OF CONSCIENCE 69 

that letters containing money were being received every 
day in the year from persons whose consciences had 
driven them to return to the Government funds stolen 
in days gone by. Sometimes the writer would say, "I 
can not stand this suffering any longer/^ and such like. 

The London Clock 
Away up in a high steeple in the great city of London 
stands a huge clock. It has doled out the time of day 
and night for more than one hundred years. During the 
busy day, the rattle and clatter of commercial life is so 
loud that only an occasional sound may be heard from 
the clock. Later in the day, however, when business has 
somewhat slackened, its voice can be heard quite dis- 
tinctly; but along about midnight, when all is still, ex- 
cept perchance the barking of the watch-dog, the belated 
traveler can plainly hear the ding-dong of the midnight 
bell. So it is in life. When young and buoyant, when 
the reservoir of vital force is full and overflowing, oft- 
times the voice of conscience is unheeded. Later in the 
day of life, when nature's resources are becoming ex- 
hausted, the voice of conscience can be heard more 
plainly. Still later, when facing the stern realities of a 
wasted life, and near approach of death, the poor soul 
can then hear that voice so often smothered — and that 
voice will upbraid and chide every hour of the day 
and night. Some one has said, 

"To be left alone with my conscience, 
Would be torment enough for me.'' 

The Murdeeeb's Confession 
Upon hearing a peculiar sound outside the house, our 



70 PKOBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

friend opened the door, and quickly into the house 
stepped a man who was almost a nervous wreck. Deep 
lines were upon his pale face as though chiseled in stone. 
He was haggard, unkempt, and unshaven. He panted 
for breath like one who had just escaped from a ferocious 
beast. When asked why he came into the house so un- 
ceremoniously he said: "I am a murderer. I killed a 
woman in cold blood, and after cutting off her arms 
and head, I threw her into an old well, I lost my hat 
while running away, and it led to my identification. I 
was caught, indicted, and sentenced to death, but I es- 
caped from the deathhouse a month ago. They are after 
me [nervously he glanced toward the window]. I have 
tried to sleep during the day, and traveled during the 
night. They are after me. I have heard the bellowing 
of the bloodhounds upon my tracks. I can not sleep. I 
can see the headless form of that woman floating around 
me now [he shrieked and jumped to his feet]. It is hell. 
I can not stand it. Call the officers so that I can go 
back and expiate my crime with my life. Oh, God ! I 
am in torment. Oh, my God V^ 

The officers were called, and they did not need to put 
the man in chains, for he was willing to go. History 
states that after Ahab and Jezebel had caused the death 
of Naboth, to get possession of his land, they could not 
sleep, although they lay upon a bed of ivory inlaid with 
clover leaves of gold. 

The Surgeon's Knife 

The power of conscience, from the beginning of life 
unto its end, is more like an arbiter of justice than 
of friendly criticism. While it can not be relied upon 



THE VOICE OF CONSCIENCE 71 

as an unerring guide, yet happy is the man who eon- 
demneth not himself in the things which he alloweth. 
A man whom I knew had a nervous breakdown and was 
sent to a sanitarium. He rapidly grew worse. Wishing 
to see him once more, I visited him in the institution. 
As soon as we were alone he confessed to me that more 
than fifteen years before he had murdered two people, 
but that he had never been suspected of committing the 
crime. He told me that during all these years, whether 
awake or asleep, eyes opened or shut, he could see the 
forms of those whose lives he cut short by his own hand. 
He said that never a day passed but what his conscience 
lashed him — for his conscience never gave consent to the 
crime. With tears streaming down his cheeks, he said 
that his life had been a failure, for he could never get 
away from that telltale conscience. He pointed to some 
object unseen to me and shouted, "There they are now — 
see ! see ! There they go.^^ 

He leaped to his feet and smote his breast with his 
clenched fist. He pulled his hair, and looked like a 
being from lower hades. He said, "Brother Anderson, 
I am as sure of hell and damnation as though I were 
there today.^^ I moved back a little in my chair, and he, 
noticing it, said assuringly, "You do not need to be 
afraid of me. I am lost to God, to hope, and to the pure 
and blessed forever.^^ I thought, if a guilty conscience 
can make a man so wretched and in such agony, here in 
the land of the living, where mercy can be invoked and 
forgiveness obtained, what, my God, will be the suffering 
of a soul who dies in sin when in that country beyond 
the grave where no invitation will ever be given, nor 
the sweet voice of mercy be heard ? I then remembered 



72 PEOBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

the words of the Master, who six times repeated in the 
ninth of Mark the awful end of those who close their 
earthly life in sin and rebellion against the throne of 
God. He plainly taught that it would be better to enter 
into life with part of our members cut off, than by their 
unlawful use be cast into hell, ^Vhere their worm dieth 
not and the fire is not quenched/^ It is commonly 
understood that Jesus meant that the awful remorse of 
conscience would be the worm that would never cease 
gnawing, and the fire that would burn on forever, yet 
never consume. 

It is a dangerous thing to ignore persistently the_ 
w^arnings of conscience, for when enraged it will take 
sleep away from the softest pillow. A surgeon could 
cut off a diseased finger; but no surgeon^s knife can cut 
off a guilty conscience. There is a way out of that awful 
condition, thank God, and that is in repentance and 
forgiveness of sins. The Bible declares: ^^How much 
more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal 
Spirit offered himself without spot to God, spurge your 
conscience from dead works to serve the living God?'^ 
(Heb. 9:14). ^^JSTow the end of the commandment is 
charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, 
and of faith unfeigned^^ (I Tim. 1:5). 



CHAPTEE VIII 

RESPONSIBILITY OF MAN 

There are duties that we owe to God, to Jesus Christ, 
to ourselves, and to our fellow men, and those duties we 
call our responsibility. There is no place in the great 
universe where one can hide himself away from God. It 
matters not which way we go, we shall be confronted 
with duty. David, the sweet singer of Israel, caught a 
glimpse of the greatness of God relative to responsibility 
and wrote in the 139th Psalm as follows: "Whither 
shall I go from thy Spirit ? or whither shall I flee from 
thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art 
there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. 
If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the 
uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand 
lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say. 
Surely the darkness shall cover me ; even the night shall 
be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from 
thee ; but the night shineth as the day : the darkness and 
the light are both alike to thee.^^ 

OuK Brother's EIeeper 

There is no such thing as a person^s living entirely to 
himself. Each day we are creating and setting in mo- 
tion influences that radiate from our lives in ever- widen- 
ing circles and ever-deepening channels. The Bible de- 
clares that no man liveth to himself and no man dieth 
to himself. When the Lord asked Cain about his brother, 
Cain indignantly asked, "Am I my brother^s keeper ?^^ If 
a person could be afflicted with the dreadful disease of 



74 PKOBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

leprosy and it not be contagious or infectious, there 
would be no need for rules of quarantine; but since it 
is transmittable, the Board of Health has ruled that peo- 
ple thus afflicted be placed by themselves, that the com- 
munity may be safeguarded. If a man's acts affected 
only himself and did not put in jeopardy the morals of 
others, possibly he would have been allowed to go on in 
sin without restraint; but as sin is contagious, and the 
acts of a man have their influence upon those with 
whom he associates, the Lord has seen fit to make certain 
laws and to place certain obligations and responsibilities 
upon man relative to his associations with the world, 
the state, and the individual. There are two streams 
issuing from our lives each day — one of life, the other of 
death. Ulyssus the great philosopher in writing upon 
power of influence, of himself declared, "I am a part of 
all I ever met." 

The Old Man's Eegret 

An aged father who had lived in sin all his life at- 
tended a revival and, after listening to a sermon upon 
the ^Troblems of Life and Death,'' went out to the pub- 
lic altar of prayer and asked that he be further in- 
structed. He wanted to know how he and his family 
could get saved, so that they could go back over life and 
undo the wrong that had been done. He seemed to be 
surprized and bewildered when told that the past was 
gone forever, and that he could not compel his family to 
accept Christ, because each individual is responsible for 
his own acts. The old man v\^ept, for he had led his 
family upon the wrong road. He repented, was forgiven 
by the Lord for his sins, and went home. He told his 



EESPONSIBILITT OF MAN 75 

boys they must quit the wrong and do the right; but 
they only laughed^ and went on as before. The old man, 
fully awakened to the responsibilities incumbent upon a 
parent concerning his children, plead with his family; 
but all in vain. He said, ^^If I only had my life to live 
over again, I would do differently ;'^ but it was too late. 
The aged father died without seeing his family saved. 
Eesponsibility unfolds itself slowly, as does education 
along other lines; but v^hen once understood, its de- 
mands are irrevocable. 

A Sudden Awakening 

The writer some years ago held a revival in the city 
of Pittsburg, Pa. The Lord was in the meeting in a 
wonderful way, and deep conviction rested upon the con- 
gregation, and souls were being saved at nearly every 
service. One night about two o^clock, the parents in a 
certain home heard their twelye-year-old boy sobbing and 
crying as though his little heart would break. Hurriedly 
they arose and inquired the meaning of his crying. 
Thinking that perhaps he was dreaming, or had the ear- 
ache or some other childish ailment, they forcibly raised 
him up in bed. In answer to their questions, and be- 
tween sobs, he said, ^^If what Mr. Anderson said last 
night is true, I have sinned against Jesus, my best 
friend. He told us last night that the One we needed 
most of all at death we should make our friend in life. 
papa pray for me! Mama, pray for me!^' and the 
little boy covered his face and wept aloud. The father 
and mother were unsaved, hence could not pray a prayer 
of faith for their troubled boy. 

The next night, when an invitation was given at the 



76 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

close of the preaching service, the father of the boy who 
cried was the first one to present himself at the altar of 
prayer. After he repented, believed, and was saved, he 
related to us the foregoing incident. He said that that 
Was the turning-point in his life. Never before had he 
realized the responsibilities resting upon him as a hus- 
band and father; and he promised the Lord that from 
that day on he would keep in a position where he could 
offer a prayer of faith, even if called upon at midnight, 
not only for his own child, but for any person in need. 
That man today is an able minister, and looks backward 
to that midnight event as the beginning of a new day — 
when the real duties of life suddenly were opened before 
his mind and heart. I pity the boy and girl who never 
heard their father or mother pray. Parents, could you 
offer a prayer of faith today for your child if he were 
wounded and dying? If not, why not? 

A Soldier's Testimony 

Once while holding a meeting in Philadelphia, Pa., I 
visited a veteran of the Civil War. He was very sick in 
body and much troubled in mind. The cause of his men- 
tal suffering was this : During one of the bloodiest bat- 
tles of the civil war, in 1864, he was hurrying across 
the battlefield, which was covered with dead horses and 
wounded men. He felt some one pull at his sword and, 
looking downward, beheld the face of a dying boy. A 
bullet had pierced his lung and he was slowly bleeding 
to death. The blue-eyed boy, scarcely eighteen years of 
age, weakly cried out, ^^0 stranger ! pray for me, I have 
a Christian mother away up north, and, if here, she 
could pray for me. Won't you please pray, pray, 



EESPONSIBILITY OF MAN 77 

p-r-a-y?" His voice grew weaker, but once again he 
tried to induce the stranger to pray; but his head dropped 
upon his breast — and he was dead. The aged soldier 
wept as he related the story, and again and again de- 
clared, ^The world would I have gladly given in that 
hour, if I could have prayed for that wounded boy — ^but, 
I had never prayed for myself/^ 

The old soldier^s experience left an indelible impres- 
sion upon my mind, which was made still more plain 
when my own boy was called to service in this recent 
World War. I thought: Suppose that he were lying 
wounded in ^^no man's land.^^ Above him the mighty 
shells bursting, and liquid fire and deadly gases rolling 
like sea-billows on every side. Suppose that he should 
grasp the sword of a passing stranger, and with a dying 
effort say, ^^0 stranger! pray for me. I have a father 
away in the States, and if he were here he could pray for 
me,^^ but having no one to pray for him, and being too 
weak to exercise living faith alone, he should die on the 
fields of Flanders — and pass the great divide — ^without 
God! 

Eesponsibilities relative to the real issues of life were 
awakened too late in the heart of the Eich Man men- 
tioned in the Scriptures; for it states that in hell he 
became awakened, not only to his personal needs and 
loss, but also of the danger to those whom he left behind. 
Abraham informed him of the sad fact that his work 
upon earth was at an end, that he had become an evan- 
gelist too late. 

To a greater degree, perhaps, than we have supposed, 
we are our brother^s keeper. Obligations and duties are 
laid upon each of us that can not be shirked with im- 



78 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

punity. Upon the day of judgment the loose ends of 
all the influences we have set in motion during life will 
be gathered together, and the sum total will decide our 
destiny — our eternity. 

Caught in a Blizzard 

The storm had been raging three days and nights, 
and the wind had piled the snow in great, high drifts. 
The weather was cold, the thermometer stood at twenty 
below zero. The man had been caught away from home 
by the storm, and would not have ventured out into such 
a wilderness of snow had it not been for his loved ones 
at home. He started, but soon became chilled. He 
stumbled and fell, but responsibilities of home impelled 
him to try to reach those who might be in need. He be- 
came so cold that he could no longer feel the weather 's 
chilling effects. When his nerves refused to record the 
danger any longer, he realized he was freezing to death. 
He could move only with difficulty. At times he was 
about to give up the battle and lay down and die, but his 
thoughts of home buoyed up his weakened body. In 
making a mighty struggle, he stumbled and fell to the 
ground. He could not arise. Suddenly he felt some- 
thing moving, and glancing around discovered that he 
had fallen over a man who, like himself, was struggling 
for life. That inherent principle of duty immediately 
prompted him to action, and he began rubbing the freez- 
ing man with his own cold, stiff arms. The more he 
rubbed, the better he felt. Soon he was able to get upon 
his knees. He rubbed and slapped the man until he 
too began to move more and wonder what was happen- 
ing. Soon they both were standing upon their feet. 



KESPONSIBILITT OP MAN 79 

The journey began, and together they reached home, and 
were safe. It was that God-given sense of responsibility 
in action that saved the lives of both men. The yielding 
to the conviction that we are our brother's keeper will 
always bring with it double blessings. 

The Leper^s Eequest 

The story is told of a man who, when traveling upon 
horseback to a distant place, was compelled, by way of 
route, to pass a colony of lepers. When they saw him 
coming, they raised their hands, as law advised, and 
cried, "Unclean! unclean !'' The traveler halted, and 
inquired how they were, and if they had enough to eat. 
One of the unfortunates asked for bread. The traveler 
stated that he had only enough for hia journey. The 
leper said he had not tasted bread for many days. So 
the traveler gave him all he had. The leper asked for 
water; but the traveler said he had not drunk since 
morning, and beside he had only enough for his journey. 
The leper said he had not tasted water for days. Touched 
by privations of such a serious character, the traveler 
gave him the last cup of water in his canteen. At that 
moment there appeared another person, with a smiling 
face, and over whose head was a halo of glory. The 
stranger was the world's best friend — Jesus Christ. 

The Master said: 

"Not what we keep, but what we share; 
The gift without the giver is bare. 
He who gives alms to the poor feeds three, 
Himself, his hungering neighbor, and ME.** 

The doctrine of the great Fatherhood of God, is an 



80 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

empty philosophy unless it comprehends the Brotherhood 
of Man. He who knows his Lord^s will and does it not, 
shall be beaten with many stripes. Responsibilities neg- 
lected will lead to shame and everlasting contempt. 



CHAPTER IX 

THE LAW OF PROGRESS 

There is nothing standing still in the great universe 
of God. Everything is moving onward, whether physical 
or moral. The great world is moving in its allotted 
sphere, and the sun, moon, and stars follow the paths 
marked out for them in the sky. The rivers run into 
the great sea, yet the sea is not filled, for the water is 
evaporated by the sun. If evaporation should stop, it 
would cause the death of every living thing. Can you 
imagine what the result would be if the sun should cease 
to shine? The consequences would be multiform. Di- 
rectly, every heart would cease to beat, and also at that 
moment time would come to an end, and necessarily the 
day of mercy would be past. If Jesus Christ were sud- 
denly to cease in his office-work as Mediator between 
God and man, the w^orld would be without an Advocate, 
and no one could obtain an audience with God. I delight 
to think upon Christ as one whose blood is continually 
flowing, the cleansing properties of which are available 
to all the world. 

The American Indian 

This law of progress seems to resolve itself into a 
universal command which says to all things, animate and 
inanimate, ^^Go on. Go on. Go on.^^ A principle is laid 
dovtoi in the Word of God that if a man will not work, 
neither should he eat. It was the execution of the awful 
lav^ of cause and effect that drove the Indian off from a 
land which seemed to be his own. The white man did 
not drive him off, it was the law of progress. 



82 PEOBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

Some years ago the writer, with hundreds of others, 
was standing on one of the main streets of Toledo, Ohio, 
watching the structural iron workers placing beams in 
the eighteenth story of a large building. Suddenly a 
heavy hand was laid upon my shoulder, and a stern 
voice commanded, "Everybody move on, you are block- 
ading the street, and hindering traffic. Move right on — 
everybody move on!' And such is the voice of the law 
of progress. 

The law commanding moral progressj is true of the 
individual and of the nation. "If a man abide not in 
me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered^^ (John 
15:6). "If those ordinances depart from me, said the 
Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being 
a nation before me forever'^ (Jer. 31 :36). 

The Beginning of Liee 

From the moment of true conception, an individual 
entity has taken its place in the universe of God, the hu- 
man is immortal — it can not die. Unless arrested by 
physical death, the embryonic days are soon past, and a 
new being takes its place in the home and in the world. 
Not only is there a law compelling growth, but we desire 
the child to advance. At first it is upon its mother's 
breast, then her lap, by her side, and then at school. 
First it kicks, then creeps, walks, and then runs. No 
heavy responsibilities are laid upon the child until men- 
tality has developed commensurate with duties required. 
The only law it knows, or penalties to which it is amen- 
able, are those in the home and school. It can not go 
back, it must go on. 

During the period of childhood's innocency it is pas- 



[ THE LAW OF PROGRESS 83 

eive under the blood of Christ, i. e., it is not held re- 
sponsible to God for any acts pertaining to morals. By 
education it learns to respect the rights of others in the 
home, in the school, the neighborhood, the state, and the 
nation. By obedience to jnst laws he enjoys religious, 
political, and physical freedom. About the time there 
comes a physical awakening of the moral faculties of the 
soul, whatever he has been taught by parent or school 
becomes his belief; and that belief becomes his religion, 
whether it be Mohammedanism, Confucianism, or Chris- 
tianity. He must go on. 

RESPOISrSIBILITY TO GOD 

The animal kingdom does not differ materially today 
from what it was in the day Adam gave names to the 
beasts and fishes, etc., of Eden. Living creatures eat, 
drink, lie down, and are satisfied. Man differs from the 
animals; for he may be surrounded by every earthly 
substance for which he craves, and still be unsatisfied. 
There is a longing in every human heart which God 
alone can fill. Man is a worshipful creature and will 
never be satisfied only in the exercise of that which dif- 
ferentiates him from the animals which are below him. 
The fish finds pleasure in the swiftly fio wing river, in 
using its fins, the exercise of which makes it different 
from the worm that finds pleasure in crawling beneath 
it at the bottom of the water. The little song-birds fly 
from limb to limb in the trees above the stream, finding 
pleasure in the exercise of the wing, that which makes 
them different from the fish that swims with its fins. 
If either were taken out of its native element it would 
be unhappy, and finally die. The fish placed upon a 



84 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

limb of a tree could not use its fins, hence would be 
unhappy and die. The bird taken out of its natural 
element, the air, and placed in the water, where it could 
not use its wings, would be unhappy and in time would 
lose its life. If both were left in their native element 
of water and air and yet became paralyzed, they would 
still be unhappy and die. Happiness, then, with regard 
to the animal kingdom, depends upon free exercise of 
native instincts in elements suited to their kind. 

Of what can man boast that makes him superior to 
the beast? Since man can not be fully satisfied only in 
the exercise of that which makes him different, it is 
necessary that man find his proper place. Man can not 
boast of physical strength, for the horse is stronger than 
he; nor of swiftness of foot, for the antelope is swifter 
than he ; not of sharpness of sight, for the eagle can see 
farther and plainer than he; not of delicacy of taste, 
for the honey-bee can find honey where men would never 
suspect it. Of what, then, can man boast? Answer: 
Man was made to know and to worship God — that is 
his native instinct, his soul's element. Man alone has a 
moral instinct, and he can not be happy or fully satisfied 
until he is free from the paralyzing effects of sin and 
in favor with the God for whom he was made, and in 
the service of love, outside of which he is unsatisfied and 
unsafe. 

Reconciliation Necessary 

There are only two termini at the end of our earthly 
pilgrimage : life in a world of eternal joy ; or death; i. e., 
eternal separation from God and the pure in heart. Man 
must go on. He can not retrace his steps. He must 



THE LAW OF PROGRESS 85 

meet his God and answer for his deeds. There is no 
turning backward of the wheels of time. Death is upon 
man's tracks perhaps but a short distance behind. Man 
must hasten on. Ahead of him is God, the Judge of all ; 
behind him, coming on at a fearful pace, are the influ- 
ences he set in motion and all the dark deeds of a sinful 
life. Beneath him are the regions of darkest night. 
Within his inmost soul is a feeling of sorrow, guilt, and 
awful suspense. What shall he do ? Where must he go 
for help? The answer comes down from over the ever- 
lasting hills, ^^Look unto me and be ye saved, for I am 
God, and besides me there is none else." Another voice 
takes up the strain, ^^I am the way, the truth, and the 
life." A candle of hope is lighted in his heart, and he 
inquires, ^^What must I do to be saved?" Fully awak- 
ened to his condition he exercises 

Repentance For Sin 

Repentance includes an awakening, sorrow on account 
of wrongs committed against God and one's fellow man, 
a desire to do right. 

Being sorry for past conduct of wrong will work in 
him a willingness to make a 

Confession of Sin 

The Bible declares that he who covers his sins shall 
not prosper, but that those who confess them shall find 
mercy. There is a shade of difference between a con- 
fession and an acknowledgment. For example : A man 
steals an automobile. In a distant State he looks behind 
him and sees the sheriff coming at a rapid rate. He 
turns and says, ^^I am the guilty man." That is more 



86 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

of an acknowledgment than it is a confession, because he 
owned up only when caught. Had there been no officer 
in sight, and, coming to himself, he had volunteered to 
return the car, and had turned about and gone and de- 
livered it to the owner, that would have been a real con- 
fession. For a person to live for himself all his life, and 
when he sees the messenger coming with a death-warrant 
then to throw up his hands and say, ^^I am guilty,^^ is 
more like a simple acknowledgment. It would be far 
better to arise in the strength of manhood or womanhood 
and say, "I am doing wrong. My life is not right. I 
am sorry I have so sinned,^^ and then call upon God for 
mercy and forgiveness. Having confessed his sins to 
God, it will be comparatively easy for him to make 

Restoration of What is Stolen 
The Bible teaches restitution. It plainly teaches that 
we must give back what we have taken from another 
and which does not belong to us. If a person has stolen, 
he is a thief until he has returned the stolen goods and 
been forgiven. The law of progress says, ^^Give again 
that he hath robbed.^^ 

Forsaking op Sin 
He who confesseth and forsaketh shall find mercy. 
He must not only stop what has been wrong in his life, 
but he must not repeat it in the future. He must go 
out of the sin business. The thief must stop his stealing, 
the liar his lying, and the adulterer his lewdness. Not 
only so, but he is willing to exercise 

Forgiveness of Offenders 
Jesus said that if we do not forgive men their sins, 



THE LAW OF PROGRESS 87 

neither will our heavenly Father forgive us our sins, 
and he also explains that we must forgive from the heart. 
If people have wronged us, we must hold an attitude of 
forgiveness until they come asking us to forgive. A 
person once asked the Master how many times we should 
forgive our offenders, and he answered that we should 
forgive as often as they come asking. Not only does the 
Bible teach that we should forgive those who have 
wronged us, and we make right the wrongs we have done, 
but that there should be 

Perfect Eeconciliation 

The law of progress will send us to the person with 
whom we have quarreled. In the Word of God we read 
that if we go to the altar (Christ) and there remember 
that our brother hath ought against us, we should leave 
our gift, and go first and be reconciled to our brother, 
and then come back and take up our subject with the 
Lord. This is all very reasonable; for it makes for a 
perfect understanding and full restoration of confidence 
and brotherhood. When a repentant soul has decided to 
obey God, and do the right, it will not be hard for such 
a one to take another necessary step, which is to believe 
that he is saved, or to accept 

Salvation by Faith 

The Lord says to a repentant sinner that if he knocks 
the door will be opened. If he asks he shall receive. 
If he seeks he shall find. Christ faithfully declared that 
he wiU not turn away any who come to the throne of 
grace. He says that if men ask forgiveness of him, he 
will forgive and will remember their sins against them 



88 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

no more forever. So with such offers of mercy the sinner 
can boldly approach the mercy-seat (Christ) and find 
that for which his soul craves. The result of such seek- 
ing and believing brings a joy and freedom into the soul 
never felt before. The power of sin is broken, the par- 
alyzing effects of sin neutralized, and the soul set free 
bounds back into its native element, the love of God — 
like as a beast, finding the cage door open quickly re- 
turns to his habitat in the jungles. Salvation is not by 
works, but by faith in God. Yet the law of progress 
teaches us the road we must travel to reach the goal at 
last. 



CHAPTEE X 
THE MAKING OF A MAN 

About 700 B. C. the Lord spoke to Isaiah the prophet 
in a vision, and said, ^^I will punish the world for their 
evil, ... I will make a man more precious than fine 
gold" (Isa. 13 :11, 12). It is perfectly natural and easy 
to live, but it is more difficult to live well. The secret 
of a happy and useful life is wrapped up in the human 
will. Individual life that is beautiful in reputation and 
character, is beaten out like gold, or brass. There is a 
law in the universe, in the visible and material and the 
moral and spiritual, whether mind or matter,, that all 
things useful must show the marks of labor. By no 
bribery or stratagem can we escape the universal law of 
labor. The unchiseled stone is left behind, and the un- 
cultivated fruit is left untasted. 

"It matters not how wide the gate. 
How charged with punishment the scroll — 

I am the master of my fate, 
I am the captain of my soul." 

Our human self, at the outset, is simply a plain piece 
of rock, without figure or flower, and in our comely 
forms we await the engraver's touch. We are ever act- 
ing; but to be usefully employed every act should have 
the thought of usefulness, or after the years shall have 
passed our life will end as meaningless as it began. It 
is God's design and our allotted work to add import to 
our existence by marking it deeply with labor. The 
marks of the hammer must show. Too many in life have 
no purpose in particular, but are like fishes, birds, and 



90 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

animals in our zoological gardens, asleep and stupid 
until the keeper's footsteps are heard, and then they wait 
impatiently for food, aroused from a sensation that is 
without. Man is different from a beast; for he pos- 
sesses within himself capabilities of happiness and use- 
fulness not dependent entirely upon the outside. Man 
may be attracted and amused by the pageant of this vain 
and deceitful world; but he is not satisfied or complete 
until he is in touch with two worlds, the physical and 
the spiritual. 

The Eden Within 

One may be surprized when the statement is made 
that there are capabilities of universal joy and peace 
stored away in every human heart. There comes before 
me the life of a certain lady who by awful calamity 
lost her husband, family, and home. The shock was so 
great it almost reduced her to helplessness ; yet a joy 
came streaming out of her soul in the face of calamity 
and poverty- — a joy not shining like the reflected light 
of the moon, but like the sun in its own outpourings. 

There is an undeveloped Eden in the soul of every 
living man. The inner life must be explored and de- 
veloped before we can find the real riches that are with- 
out. Man is so constituted that he may be happy wear- 
ing wooden shoes in the outskirts of civilization, or 
vrearing purple robes upon a throne. A person may be 
almost entirely cut off from the outside world by being 
deaf, dumb, and blind, and even paralyzed, and yet be 
able to be happy and contented, and to build a character 
that will shine on when the most distant star shall have 
become a burnt-out ember. Until one has discovered 



THE MAKING OF A MAN 91 

himself, and the real objective in life — ^thef true worth 
and power of his inner self — ^he is loosing more than 
half of his personal estate. Within every human mind 
and soul there awaits a wealth of pure gold ready for the 
beating of the hammer, and by a touch of the divine 
hand there may spring forth a Luther, Wesley, or 
Warner. 

History records the story of an astronomer who was 
always smiling and happy. Some friends, in apologizing 
for their own lack, rather chided the godly man. They 
said they were limited in learning and in implements, 
and> suggested that if they possessed his advantages, they, 
too, should be happy. They were surprized when he 
informed them that the secret of his happiness came 
from another source. He said he received a truer and 
deeper meaning of the value of time and life within his 
closet upon his knees than he did with his telescope 
sweeping the skies. 

Prom these truths we conclude that the keenest pleas- 
ures the heart can know and the greatest services we 
can give come by the unfolding of our own inner self 
as inspired by the Spirit of God. The pursuits of this 
vain world will not satisfy. They only entice us away 
from the pure gold within to the coarser gold that is 
without, and possibly beyond our reach. 

The Triumph of Character 

God not only made the man, but he will stand by him 
as long as man is right. Eight will prevail. The uni- 
versal law that merit will stand and demerit will fail, 
and that love will outlive hate, keeps the world of man- 
kind from suicide. No one expects to win who is de- 



92 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

ceitful. He can not compel his inner self to so believe. 
Only the utterly depraved can really believe that truth 
will ever be dethroned. We are in a world where the 
question of final success is always a question of true 
merit. Character and true worth are slow in their de- 
velopment, and in seeking a shorter route many are 
tempted, yea, resort to artifice, pretense, and imitation. 
Fraud may yield quicker results than honest endeavor, 
but the loss far exceeds the gain in the end. 

"The heights by great men reached and kept 
Were not obtained by sudden flight. 

But they while their companions slept 
Were toiling upward through the night." 

It pays to be true and honest in every act, for when 
the balance is struck at the end of the day, or of life, 
true merit will win against that competitor of pretense 
and sham. To attempt to gain in a single day what is 
supposed to take months to obtain is an insult against 
the slower processes of nature, and penalties are follow- 
ing close behind. Character is formed within the inner 
self, and woven upon that noiseless, unseen loom of our 
choices. Like as a photographer develops the negative in 
a dark room, so character is formed by our own de- 
cisions within the darkness of our own self -life. 

External vs. Internal Beauty 

Even our sisters join in insurrection against the laws 
of the universe when they believe and act as though 
the years of their own personal worth were those years 
covered by their personal beauty. Personal beauty is 
only one of the charms the Lord has seen fit to bestow 



THE MAKING OF A MAN 93 

upon the daughters of earth ; for there are many admira- 
ble qualities in her that may never be noticed until after 
the wild rose bloom has left her cheeks forever. We 
should remember that merit and true worth never desert 
the soul, and thus the loss of personal beauty will be 
made up in loveliness of some other form. God made 
no mistakes in the departments of human life. ^Tretty 
is as pretty does'^ is a maxim that is true in childhood, 
middle life, and in old age. When physical beauty is 
made the objective, it pays the penalty of a shorter life. 

Merit stands ready to beautify its possessor at every 
age and in every department of human endeavor. Merit 
stands ready to open every legitimate door in life, and 
by it alone can the door be kept open indefinitely. Hon- 
esty is more than a single honest act; it is a lifetime of 
honest acts. There is no question outside of salvation 
that will ever surpass that of true worth. It is not a 
matter of quantity of years that merit desires, but the 
quality of life's acts. Sometimes when we see so much 
fraud, graft, the getting of things together in haste, 
diplomas won in a year, exalted positions given to the 
unfitted, men leaping suddenly into prominence by vir- 
tue of a pull, we wonder if that law of growth and the 
functioning of merit have been revoked and annulled. 
But we need wait only a short season, for all such sub- 
terfuges will come to naught. Earthly minds may trifle 
with beauty, riches, fame, and power; but merit com- 
prehends true worth, and it gathers up from time to 
time only that excellence which no years or ages can 
efface. 



94 PEOBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

At the Crossroads 
Man is indeed a strange combination, a wonderful as- 
semblage of peculiar attributes — ^taste, reason, love, faith, 
hope, moral sense, power of choice, etc. A creature 
like man, having so many passions, interests, fears, 
and hopes, possessing enormous powers, does not 
contain all the problems of his life in the question of his 
coming into the world ; his staying here and the choices 
he makes contain their share of his life's problems. If 
man came simply from the dust and will return to dust, 
then he is simply a beast; but if he comes from God and 
will return to God, then he must choose the right at the 
crossroads. When a gold coin comes from the mint (I 
have watched the process), it is carefully weighed, and 
if it does not move the balances in the proper manner 
it is degraded, and is sent back to be remelted and made 
over again. There are only two paths across the world 
—-a path of right, and a path of infinite wrong. Man is 
a compound being — in touch with two worlds. This 
duality declares a duality of destiny. One stream of 
water starts northward and empties into the North Sea, 
and another starts south and empties into a sea which 
for ages has received its floods, and yet is not full. 
Standing upon the great moral divide, we can behold 
two great streams of human souls going in opposite 
directions. One moves toward the celestial skies, to a 
perpetual and eternal day. In the opposite direction, a 
stream moves onward toward the hell of a neglected life. 
Both the Bible and logic teach us that heaven and hell 
have their beginning for us here, and this beginning is 
formed by our choices. There is a divine something 
within us that warns us, and we do not travel the wrong 



THE MAKING OF A MAN 95 

pathway far until our feet will bleed, and become sore. 
We are in a world of choice. Before us are the two 
pathways, one leading upward and the other leading 
downward. We may select from the garden of earth 
the deadly intoxicant that dulls the mind and destroys 
the noblest part of our being; or from the same garden 
we may choose that which gives health, clearness of 
mind, and purity of heart, and which will make for a 
better life and the better eternity. 

The Eesults of Choice 

If it were possible for me to stand upon the moun- 
tain-top on that day when the balance of life is struck, 
the sight I should see would beggar description. I see 
sweeping through the skies a long procession of white- 
winged souls, and oh, how peaceful, happy, and con- 
tented ! I ask, ^^Who are these, and whence came they ?'^ 
The answer comes, ^These are the faithful ones who be- 
lieved and worshiped God before the flood," and they 
pass on. Still another long procession comes on apace. 
I ask, ^^Who are these, and whence came they?'^ The 
answer is, ^These are the faithful ones who lived and 
worshiped God during the law period,^' and so with 
bright faces and with songs of joy they pass on to their 
great reward. 

Another long procession now comes sweeping through 
the sky. Oh, how happy they appear ! They are dressed 
in white robes and hold palms in their hands. How 
beautiful ! how expectant ! They are flying high, and I 
can see in the distance the great doors of that heavenly 
country standing ajar. I ask of the angel who stands 
by mf side, ^^TVTio are these arrayed in white robes, and 



96 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

whence came they?'^ And he answers me, ^These are 
they which came out of great tribulation, and have 
washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of 
the Lamb. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst 
any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any 
heat. For the Ijamb which is in the midst of the throne 
shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living foun- 
tains of waters; and God shall wipe away all tears 
from their eyes" (Rev. 7 :14, 16, 17). 

Reader, if you choose the right at the crossroads, you 
will join this last procession of souls, those who accepted 
Christ in this last great day of mercy — the gospel day — 
and the doors of that long-sought country will swing 
wide open for you, and with the redeemed and blood- 
washed you may enjoy the grandeur of that heavenly 
country forevermore. If we could only stop here and 
close this chapter without doing injustice to truth, we 
should be so glad ; but there is another scene before our 
eyes. 

Another long procession of souls comes sweeping 
along, they are dejected, and are flying lov^. I ask: 
^^Who are these, and whence came they?^^ I am told, 
"These are they who chose the wrong path in the days 
before the flood,'' and on they go to impending doom. I 
am amazed. Soon another longer procession comes into 
view and are hours in passing. How sad they look. No 
hope is ahead for them. They chose the valley during 
life and now they go down, down, down. I ask, "Who 
are these poor wretched souls?'' "These are they who 
rejected God during the law period," I am told, and they 
disappear below and are lost in the darkness down beside 



THE MAKING OF A MAN 97 

the river of eternal death. I think, My God ! how can I 
endure the sight? 

Suddenly another procession comes into view. The 
angel informs me that this is the closing scene — the final 
act in the drama of human life. As they draw nearer 
I am surprized beyond expression, for I recognize 
among that saddened throng familiar faces. There is a 
young man with whom I labored in San Francisco — ^lost. 
Another I recognize is an uncle of mine who died with- 
out Christ. My God ! there is my only brother, and there 
— is that my own son ? No ! no ! Thank God ! Oh, how 
sad they look! Most of them are weeping. They just 
said good-by to the loved ones of earth, for they were 
assembled at the judgment and sentenced a few moments 
ago. The angel does not need to tell me who they were, 
or from whence they came, for I know too well. They 
are of the earth. They had lived in the grandest age of 
mercy ever known to the world, and had of their own 
vtdll chosen the wrong road. The day of mercy is past, 
and they go on out into a night that has no star, to a 
country where no friend shall ever greet them, while 
eternal ages roll on and on. Lost ! lost! LOST ! 

Sinner of a Christian country, it would be more tol- 
erable for you in the judgment day had you been born 
in distant India, and had been fed to a crocodile in the 
Ganges Eiver, than for you to go out from this land of 
Bibles and opportunities unprepared to meet thy God. 
You may be at the crossroads now. If so, choose life. 
and begin to work for God and humanity today. 



98 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

The End of Death 

On yonder hillside where I look today, 

Loom high great monuments of stone; 
Deep shadows lengthen, and they seem to say, 

"This is the place where Death has made his home/' 

In awe I gaze upon these sculptured forms, 
"With all the pomp and splendor art can give. 

And wonder if Time's hoary hand will harm. 
Or will their pride through endless ages live ? 

Methinks of pyramids on Egypt's plain. 

Where granite rocks so boldly lift their head; 

Shall these crumble back to the earth again, 
And lie as level as the millions dead? 

tell me ! marble slabs, tell me, I pray. 

Must I return to cold and lifeless dust? 
Must I be wrapped in folds of putrid clay ? 

They answer back : "0 man of earth, thou must.'' 

When God shall speak from out the fiery clouds. 
And GabrieFs trump shall shake this frail earth. 

The millions wrapped today in mortal shrouds 
Shall rise to shame and woe, or endless mirth. 

Kiiow thou, proud Death, thy reign shall have an end ; 

The barriers thou hast built be rent in twain. 
Yea, thou shalt bow before a mightier hand. 

And we, instead of thee, shall ever reign. 



CHAPTER XI 
THE LINE OF LEAST RESISTANCE 

Most of the calamities that happen to the people of 
earth, outside of things providential — such as earth- 
quakes, floods, and tornadoes — are caused by neglect. The 
conductor failed to read the message correctly, or the 
janitor failed to put out the fire, and as a result there 
was great loss in life and property. Neglect is the road 
that leads to ruin, and connect it with any subject or 
matter you please, neglect will be found to produce a 
corresponding loss. 

In Business 
The merchant takes advantage of various sales and 
replenishes his stock when prices are low. The sailor 
takes advantage of wind and tide to carry his perishable 
goods to a foreign port. The farmer takes advantage of 
the warm days of spring to prepare for seeding and 
planting, for he knows very well that to neglect to 
sow would preclude a harvest and in the end mean great 
loss. When I was in Ontario, Canada, a friend pointed 
out to me the very place where two men while rowing 
across the great Niagara Eiver broke an oar, and having 
neglected to take an extra one as was the custom, were 
soon carried into the swiftly flowing cataract and on 
over the Horseshoe Falls. It was neglect that caused 
their untimely death. To neglect to wind a watch will 
result in its stopping. 

r I 

With Eespeot to Health 
If a person fails to observe the laws of hygiene and 



100 PEOBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

sanitation and the requirements of nature, he will surely 
sufiEer a loss commensurate with the seriousness of the 
neglect. A person may ignore the dictates of Nature 
for a while and go into rebellion against her 
commands, but one day she will call the viola- 
tor into account for every violation and infrac- 
tion of her laws. God has vested Nature with 
power to punish any and all infringements of 
her mandates; and she will not forgive, neither 
accept penance, whether the crimes be wilful or of neg- 
lect. Through a series of violations and petit larcenies, 
parents have ofttimes robbed their offspring of a robust 
physique and balanced mentality, which would have been 
a richer and more lasting legacy than a million dollars in 
gold. Children have a right to be well born, but many 
indeed enter into life in a state of physical, mental, and 
moral bankruptcy. Neglect of parents has caused many 
a person to go through life carrying a scar upon the 
face, mind, and soul. Neglect will always produce loss. 
A noted doctor told me that the great mortality during 
the iufluenza plague of 1919 was caused principally by 
neglect, either by patient or nurse. 

Neglect in Youth 

Youth sows the seed, old age must reap. The Bible 
in one place states, ^^While men slept, his enemy came 
and sowed tares.^^ Parents ofttimes neglect to inform 
their sons and daughters of the many evils rampant in 
the world today, and of the awful penalties that follow 
in the wake of the various forms of wrong habits and 
evil practises against nature. Because of such neglect 
by parents and the neglect of those who fail to put 



THE LINE OF LEAST RESISTANCE 101 

away evil thoughts and temptations, our homes for im- 
beciles are rapidly being filled. Some imbeciles are 
allowed to roam at large, marry, and propagate their 
kind. Neither segregation nor sterilization will meet the 
need; but education and action only will put man in 
harmony with God, the state, the home, and nature. 
Neglect would in time lead to barbarism and infidelity. 
The tendency of human nature is to follow the line of 
least resistance — like water — and thus in youth, the 
formative period, many neglect to form right habits of 
thinking and of living, and the results of neglect along 
these lines are seen upon every side. The estrangement 
in so many homes, the first cause of so many divorces , 
the beginning of so many triaugular love affairs which 
end in suicide and murder, have their primary cause in 
neglect Thus we find that neglect is like rust in the 
soul, which destroys our best resolves. ^^I neglected to 
put on the brake,'^ was the only excuse a man gave 
when he found his three-thousand-dollar car a wreck 
at the bottom of the hill. A hunter neglected to take 
the loaded shell out of his gun, and as a result his little 
son accidentally killed little sister. It was an accident 
caused by neglect. 

He Fell Upon the Street 

It had been raining and freezing all day, and the 
street was a sheet of ice. People were hurrying along 
to their several places of work. Suddenly a man in 
front of me slipped and went sprawling, and his suit- 
cases, hat, etc., were scattered in every direction. Some 
laughed at him. He arose and said, "Others passed 
over that place safely, and I thought I could do the 



102 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

eame/^ That circumstance taught me a lesson I shall 
never forget. That man did not aim to fall down. It 
was not his purpose or motive to lose his ba^nce; but 
the reason he fell was because he walked on a slippery 
place, he neglected to look out for himself. People do 
not form character in posse; people do not get saved 
by the regiment; men and women do not rise and fall 
by the hundred; but individually, each for himself. 
Sometimes we forget that life is a personal matter. You 
can not hold a good man down; nor can you hold a 
bad man up. It all depends upon the man himself. 
To neglect this fundamental law of self-effort is to 
suffer loss. 

Neglect Lessens the Probability of Performance 

Many times in life, in fact every day, we have prompt- 
ings to do a kindly deed or say a loving word; but 
so many times we put it off, perhaps thinking we will 
do it tomorrow. Unless such acts are quickly performed, 
the probabilities are they will never be done. A friend 
of mine said to himself one morning, "I will yield my- 
self to God.^^ But he neglected it that day, and it will 
be undone forever; for he was accidentally killed the 
following night. In pioneer days, when mail was car- 
ried over mountain upon horseback, attention was called 
by an onlooker to a nail that was loose in one shoe of 
a horse the mail-man vsras to ride. Thanking the one 
who thus informed him, the man went busily on with 
his work and neglected to have the nail attended to. 
As a result, while climbing the flinty hills with a heavy 
load, the horse loosened its shoe and had to have it 
taken off. Soon the horse became lame, and could not 



THE LINE OF LEAST RESISTANCE 103 

carry its load. A band of outlaws stole the mail, and 
the man almost lost his life — all this through simply 
neglecting a nail. 

Neglect Incurs Great Danger 
Some years ago a man moved his family into the 
country where the savage mountain-lion made its home. 
His four-year-old boy would accompany him to his work 
in the woods near by. The wife often warned her hus- 
band to keep watch of the little one, lest he wander 
away and be caught by one of these fierce beasts. The 
father said he would take care of his boy and did not 
much need to be bothered with a gun. Time passed 
on, and seeing no signs of the animals he relaxed his 
vigilance and seemingly forgot that great danger lurked 
about. One day little Charles came smiling to his papa 
and said, ^^See these pretty flowers ! FU take them to 
mamma,^^ and started off for home. No sooner had he 
disappeared from sight than he was pounced upon by 
one of these sly mountain beasts that had been watch- 
ing him. Charles screamed, "Papa, oh, papa V^ but the 
distracted father only saw the brute bounding off carry- 
ing his darling in his jaws. Frantically the father 
screamed, and endeavored to overtake the lion, but soon 
the trail was lost. He hurried home, organized a posse, 
and four days later they found a few little white bones 
beside a large rock — all that was left of their dear little 
boy. The mother nearly lost her mind, and until this 
day they mourn the loss of that darling child. The 
father has never forgiven himself for neglecting to take 
his gun and for neglecting to carefully watch his child. 



104 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

The father committed no positive crime. He simply 
neglected to do his duty, and the child was lost. 

It is the same old story with respect to sin. The 
person does nothing wrong in a general way ; he is kind 
to his associates, pays all honest debts, treats everybody 
courteously, etc. But that is not enough. Suppose that 
a man is rowing down the stream of the great Niagara 
and is only a few miles from the falls. Some one shouts 
to him from the bank of the river that he is hastening 
to his death. It would not be enough to simply stop 
rowing and rest upon his oars; he must pull hard for 
the shore, or some other place of safety. Simply to 
stop rowing downward would not save him; for the 
current, which is ever growing swifter, would, if he 
neglected to pull against it, soon carry him to certain 
death. The sinner must not only awake to his awful 
danger, and try to stop his downward career, but he 
must not neglect to make a mighty eflEort to reach a 
place of safety. The gravitation of sin in the soul ever 
increases in momentum, and, unless checked by a higher 
power, will cause the soul to sink like a stone into hell. 

Neglect Means Death and Hell 

The story is told of a man who accidently took poison 
and was at the point of death. When the doctor went 
to give him the only antidote for that particular poison, 
the man coughed and the medicine was spilled. Before 
more could be procured, the poison had done its terrible 
work, and the man was dead. The lesson we wish to 
make is this: It was by accident that the poison was 
first taken, and it was also by accident that the antidote 
was spilled, but nevertheless the result was death. Sup- 



THE LINE OF LEAST RESISTANCE 105 

pose that he should have promised to take the antidote 
the next day, the effects would have been the same. It 
would not matter whether the poisoned man had spilled 
the medicine accidently, positively refused to take it, 
or said he would take it and yet neglected, the final 
result would have been the same — death. The same is 
true with respect to sin. The Bible declares that the 
^Vages of sin is death.^^ There is only one remedy 
for sin, and that is repentance and forgiveness through 
Christ. There is not enough water in all the oceans of 
earth to wash away one guilty stain of sin. There are 
not enough chemicals compounded in all the laboratories 
of earth to remove the stain of sin from one human 
soul. 

**What can wash away my sins? 
Nothing but the blood of Jesus." 

A sinner might refuse Christ with an oath and reject 
the Bible in words of blasphemy, he might acknowledge 
Christ as the Son of God and the Bible as a divine 
revelation to man, or he might go farther and state that 
he would accept Christ as his personal Savior, and simply 
neglect to do so, and die, and in each case go to the same 
place. To neglect to become a Christian is to be lost 
forever. 

He Waited Too Long 

Once while standing at the depot in a large city 
watching the last section of an excursion train pulling 
out, we saw a man hurrying as though his life depended 
upon his catching that train. In spite of his hurrying, 
he missed it; and, oh, the look of disappointment that 



106 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

was stamped upon his face. He said, ^^I promised wife 
and daughter that I would meet them at Denver, Colo. ; 
but I missed the last train of that excursion.^^ While 
we were pitying him, a boy rather abruptly cried out, 
^^Stranger, you did not run fast enough.^^ The disap- 
pointed man replied: "Boy, you are mistaken, I ran 
fast enough, but I didn't start soon enough.'^ So many 
in life have waited too long — have put off their return 
to God until racked with pain, or tormented, and then 
have tried to call upon God with their last fleeting 
breath. It is very dangerous to neglect so great salva- 
tion. Millions will be lost throughout all eternity, sim- 
ply because they neglected to do that which was right. 
Reader, beware of the thief NEGLECT 

Too Late 
His life on earth was ebbing very fast, 

And soon the sun of day 
Would sink behind the western hills, and cast 
Its lingering shadows o'er him as it passed. 

And then speed swiftly onward. 

Once in his youthful days, that had gone by. 

He walked with Christ alone; 
Undaunted, stood life's storms without a sigh ; 
Hastened his Lord's return, with him to fly; 

But now his heart was lifeless. 

He left the pleasant paths of peace to plod 

In tempting fields of sin. 
In paths of pleasure and of lust he stood. 
Forgetful of his friends, his vows, his God; 

But now he calls for comfort. 



THE LINE OP LEAST RESISTANCE 107 

In manhood^s days he sowed no golden grain, 

Supposing life would last; 
Eef used the blood of Christ, for earthly gain ; 
He has no sheaves ; he weeps, but weeps in vain ; 

For subtle sin deceived him. 

The sun sinks noislessly behind the hill ; 

Tis night and all is dark. 
Loved ones look on, and pray for mercy still; 
His eyes look up, they gaze with dreadful chill; 

^Too late,^^ Ms cold lips utter. 



CHAPTEE XII 

FATAL FLAWS 

The law of heredity and environment are the two 
master forces in the organic world. The transmission 
from parent to child of physical, intellectual, and moral 
likenesses, or characteristics, has been believed in for 
centuries; but only of late has the subject been under- 
stood and so methodized as to embody any substantial 
benefit to students who would seek to uplift the human 
race. It has been proved beyond successful refutation, 
that children may inherit moral defects from their par- 
ents as well as those of a physical nature. Without go- 
ing into a scientific analysis of the subject, we wish to 
give a few examples of the awful efEects of the law of 
heredity upon certain individuals, which we trust will 
cause parents to stop and think seriously before they 
give consent to acts against their nature which may 
produce fatal flaws in their offspring. 

Sad Beyond Expression 

Eecently there came to our notice the sad history 
of a man who was a murderer by heredity. In an 
alleged confession to a ministering friend, he recounted 
the oft-told story of a young woman (this time his 
mother) who tried to rid herself of the responsibilities 
of motherhood (out of wedlock) . Attempt after attempt 
failed to accomplish the murderous object, and the un- 
welcomed child v^as born. Immediately he was placed 
in a ^^home,^' and with that murderous instinct im- 
pressed upon his mind, coupled with environment that 



110 PEOBLEMS OF ETBENAL MOMENT 

was usually corrupt, he became a moral outlaw at a 
tender age. He was naturally cruel to both animal and 
man. He served a number of terms in the workhouse 
while in his teens, and was mixed up in numerous rob- 
beries and murders. He had the wrong start in the 
beginning and as sin is cumulative, he soon lost his 
civil liberty — he was finally caught and sent to the peni- 
tentiary for life. 

Because of excesses made easy by a low sense of 
morals, he became diseased, and he was not long in the 
prison until he developed the deadly tubercle-bacilli and 
was placed in the consumptive-ward. Removed as far 
from the pleasures of the world as if centuries separated 
him from our modern civilization, without the somber 
pageantry that marks the death-bed of one who passes 
off earth's stage of action surrounded by friends and the 
material evidences of work v^ell done, he cast a lingering 
glance about him and quietly slipped away from this 
hard-hearted world that had deceived him and cut off 
his life when still young in years. No loving hands 
caressed his brow as he lay dying on the cot; for he 
was unknown. His picture hung in many rogues' gal- 
leries, but no one knew his real name or whence he had 
come. His achievements were not recounted by the 
press, and perhaps it was just as well. On a certain 
page in the daily paper we read, "Prisoner No. 9740 at 

Penitentiary died at 11 :45 o'clock last 

night of tuberculosis." 

One of old, when asked for his identity, simply said 
he was a "voice" ; but this poor man was known as "No. 
9740." Can you imagine yourself, or your own dear boy, 
so swallowed up by sin that his identity is completely 



FATAL FLAWS 111 

lost? Sin is an awful thing, an enemy of both God 
and men. The story of this death-bed scene must be left 
to the imagination, for the poor man was alone. In 
reality, in the prison infirmary there was a narrow cot 
surrounded by severe walls and iron-barred windows. 
Great massive walls all around the buildings shut out 
everything but conscience and death. Perhaps he called 
for mother, or wife, and struggled vainly as he sought to 
grasp the falling torch of life or tried to hold off the 
monster death. Perhaps in that awful hour his memory 
recalled the bright scenes of better days — of robust 
health, of congenial friends, and of freedom from prisons 
and from pain. Hanging upon the walls of memory, no 
doubt, were pictures of home, love, and innocent chil- 
dren; but alas! sin had deceived him, and, awakening 
as if from a horrible nightmare, he found himself honey- 
combed by disease, exiled from society, haunted by visions 
of past crimes, and dying alone in the penitentiary. 
Slowly he drew near to the end of the bridge that 
spanned his probationary period, and his poor soul, 
driven by a greater force than the power of inertia, 
slipped out into a never-ending eternity — lost to God, 
to hope, and to the pure and the holy forever. If it were 
not right for God to force him to choose the good while 
he was upon earth, it would not be right for God to 
force him into the company of the pure and the blest in 
that land beyond the sky. 

There is no pardon for him now. He has passed 
beyond the day of mercy. He is a doomed man. He 
might have been saved at one time, but it is too late 
now. To him the doors of opportunity are forever 
closed. He was a free agent and had the power of choice, 



112 PEOBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

but he chose sin and with it the penalty, which is death. 
Hereditary influences gave him a wrong start, and his 
environments were strongly against him; yet he could 
have chosen the right path. The salvation of Jesus 
Christ will break every power of sin and set a captive 
soul at perfect liberty. Thank God, there is power in 
the blood of Christ to make a man a master of every evil 
that has ever mastered him, and he can reign a con- 
queror over every adverse element. 

An Awful Dream 

Two boys were born of drunken parents and they 
both inherited the appetite for strong drink. Both be- 
came drunkards, for they could not control that awful 
thirst for intoxicants. After a few years, one of the 
brothers came in touch with better influences and finally 
was led to Christ, and the power of sin was broken. 
He became a free man, and was called of God to preach 
a gospel of freedom from every form of habitual and 
besetting sin. The other one, however, continued on 
and, fimally, dissipated and broken in spirit, was lying 
upon his death-bed. Kind friends immediately sent for 
his brother who was a minister, and he arrived the night 
before the poor man's death. The brother minister in 
relating what occurred that night, said that after giving 
up all hopes of his brother^s getting saved, being tired, 
he relaxed and tried to rest in an easy chair. 

It was about two o^clock, and all was still except for 
the occasional barking of the watch-dog or the hoot of 
the great horned owl, wafting its love-song to its mate. 
He dropped asleep, and in a dream he saw in the dis- 
tance a procession of dark-looking objects, which, when 



FATAL FLAWS 113 

they drew nearer, were found to be devils. He watched 
their maneuvers, and they circled, like a lot of buzzards, 
over the house where his brother lay dying. By and by 
they stopped and appeared to hold a consultation. One 
of them approached the house, and then returned and 
made some kind of a report. The minister dreamed 
that he watched his brother die and saw his soul slowly 
come out of the body of clay and, seemingly fearing 
danger, go outside and hide in a coal-shed. Suddenly 
the devils waiting in the air above swooped down and 
surrounded the house. One of them came into the bed- 
room and, finding the spirit of the man departed, went 
out and gave the signal to the rest to be on the watch 
as evidently the soul of the man was hiding somev^here 
near by. All started hunting for his poor brother^s 
soul. Soon one devil scented the soul in the coal-shed. 
The poor soul, finding itself discovered, took to flight 
with a thousand devils in swift pursuit. He saw them 
slowly disappearing, when suddenly the nearest devil 
pounced upon his brother's soul. As it sank its talons 
deep, the soul uttered a piercing shriek, and they all 
sank into a darkness that was blacker than midnight. 

The dream was so real that it awakened the sleeper, 
and he jumped from his chair. The lamp had gone 
out and the room was in darkness. Procuring another 
light, he found his brother lying dead, with mouth and 
eyes wide open and a look of awful agony upon his face. 
It is hard to convince the minister that what he saw 
was a dream, and he still believes that actual devils 
came for his poor lost brother's soul. I believe it was 
only a dream ; but since the Bible teaches that angels of 
heaven carry the souls of our departing loved ones who 



114 PEOBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

die saved, it is only fair to conclude that devils come 
to claim their own to carry them away into the dark- 
ness of that bottomless pit. Language, however, would 
be inadequate to describe the anguish and awful feelings 
of remorse of a man in his dying hour who by reason of 
v^ilful rejection or careless neglect closes his earthly life 
in sin and rebellion against the throne of God. Eeader, 
if you were to die tonight, where would you go and by 
what kind of angels would you be carried away? Think 
over this matter seriously, and if not prepared for such 
an eventuality, begin now to prepare to meet thy God. 
The Lord never turned a deaf ear to a cry for mercy. 
Call upon Him today and be saved. Do not wait, for 
tomorrow may never come. 



CHAPTEE XIII 

THE LAW OF CAUSE AND EFFECT 

A person must believe in God to be a Christian, for 
the apostle Paul, in Heb. 11 :6, declares, "Without faith 
it is impossible to please him: for he that eometh to 
God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder 
of them that diligently seek him/' Mathematical demon- 
stration can not prove there is a God, but the law of 
cause and effect — causation — proves it beyond reason- 
able doubt. 

Nothing Happens to Happen 

I leave my room in disorder, with everything scat- 
tered about, and, returning, find the books alphabetically 
arranged on the shelves, the floor swept, and curtains 
in order. I enquire, "Who has been in here?'' and my 
wife answers that no one has been in the room, and 
that perchance the wind blew the things into order. 
We behold a beautiful oil-painting of a wide landscape 
with the golden streaks of the evening sun gilding the 
western sky. We enquire as to who painted it, and 
are informed that a certain blunderer spilled a can of 
paint accidentally and it happened to make that valuable 
painting. Such answers would be an insult to our in- 
telligence. 

What about the great universe around us, with the 
starry canopy above, the mighty planetary system revolv- 
ing so regularly, and the multiform varieties of animal 
and vegetable life in such unity and harmony — did they 
just happen to happen? No, indeed! They are the 



116 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

works of a Master-mechanic, a great First Cause. The 
mighty forces of inertia and gravitation, the endless 
variety of flowers, the complex mechanism of the human 
body are not the result of blind and undirected forces, 
but bespeak intelligence and wisdom of a superlative 
degree. 

God — An Unseen Being 

There is no substantial argument against the existence 
of God in the fact that he can not be seen. Crude im- 
plements of peace and war are found in caves of pre- 
historic men. We can not see these men, and no books 
contain the records of their activities or of the time in 
which they lived, yet we believe they existed, from the 
works they left behind. Thousands who read these 
pages will never see the writer, yet no one will believe 
that this book came as a result of an accidental up- 
setting of a box of type. The electric light we make use 
of had its existence and form first in somebody^s mind, 
there was a first plan — a blue-print — ^then an effect, the 
created thing. 

Who is it standing behind the curtain who by infinite 
power controls and directs this great universe ? To this 
question the great apostle Paul replies: **God that 
made the world and all things therein, seeing that he 
is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples 
made with hands; neither is worshiped with men's 
hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he giveth 
to all life, and breath, and all things ; . . for in him we 
live, and move, and have our being" (Acts 17:24-19). 
The law of cause and effect is simply the statement of 
ia fact to which no exceptions have ever been known. 



THE LAW OF CAUSE AND EFFECT 117 

All visible things are simply the effect of which God 
is the first cause. 

The law of cause and effect stated in other terms 
would read that people reap what they sow, regardless 
of what is sown. It is a universal law that cause 
and effect are inseparably connected, however long may 
be the interval detaining the effect, and are always pro- 
portionate to each other. We may be sure that there is 
a reason for every conclusion, a motive for every act, 
an excitement for every motion, a why for every where- 
fore. This is a law of both body and soul; of things 
both seen and unseen. 

Reason plays its part in the conversion of the soul, 
in this matter of cause and effect. Eeason inquires why 
do atoms crowd around a center, atom upon atom, until 
a crystal globule gleams in the morning sun, or a new 
planet appears in the firmament? Why is the spirit 
within us so attracted by resemblances and faint an- 
alogies, when only overpowering excitement, or stern- 
ness of will, or a habit of attention, can confine it to 
one pursuit? And why all things past, present, and to 
come bound, linked together in the steel chain of causa- 
tion, so that in all the universe animate and inanimate, 
there is a necessity, natural or moral, call it what you 
will, of motion, of progress from a beginning to an end ? 
Prom what beginning and to what end ? Did Adam have 
a beginning and what was his end? Did he have an 
end ? Why was Adam formed ? 

The old philosophies of paganism are but the at- 
tempted solution, by reason, of the great problems of 
life, the echo of the souFs deep yearning for something 
outside of and beyond itself. Men may reason, analyze, 



118 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

and compare, and will yet remain unsatisfied. Revela- 
tion comes to man^s rescue, and that, with the law of 
cause and effect, gives us a satisfactory basis for living 
faith. The inspiration of the Almighty giveth us under- 
standing, and thus we discover the superstructure upon 
which the moral universe rests — namely, "For thy glory, 
God, all things are and were created.^^ Then God 
speaks and declares, "I made man for my glory,'^ and 
thus established the purpose of creation — a moral uni- 
verse governed by moral law. To glorify God, were all 
things made. There can be no free agency, as pertain- 
ing to man, only by reason of good and evil. To choose 
the good is to refuse the wrong. Adam was put to the 
test and failed. The penalty was death. For economical 
and gracious reasons, not necessary to be considered here, 
the full execution of the penalty was deferred; but the 
fatal effects of a violated law rested heavily upon a fallen 
race, and impending judgment hung over the earth — 
like as a man standing beside the river of death, while 
the shadows deepened and total eclipse came on apace. 

Penalties Await the Guilty Soul 

Upon the walls of the universe, gleaming with the 
light reflected from profane and religious history, is the 
handwriting of the Eternal, which inspiration interprets 
and the law of cause and effect enforces — Sinner thou 
shalt die! Proud and wicked world, thou shalt come 
to an end! Science and experience attest the awful 
truth that retribution will follow infraction of law. If 
you cast yourself down from the temple, nothing but 
angelic intervention will save you from the fall. If you 
suffer your thoughts to rove at will, you will lose the 



THE LAW OF CAUSE AND EFFECT 119 

power of logical thinking. If you neglect your finer 
sensibilities, and do not check your imaginations, you 
will become a victim of passion, the slave of sensuality, 
and the votary of unbelief. If one disregards in either 
physics or morals the law of cause and effect, he will 
write? his name as a fool upon the book of time, and 
reap sooner or later the results of his follies. The his- 
tory of a race declares in unmistakable language that the 
way of the transgressor is hard. Eevelation uses no ab- 
stract terms and presents no scientific formulas, but 
thunders forth plainly and emphatically, ^^The soul that 
sinneth it shall die, ' ' and, ' ' The wages of sin is death. ' ' 
Walk as carefully as he may, sooner or later the steps 
of the sinner will slide; his feet will slip, and terror 
and sudden destruction will come upon him. In due 
time, and, it may not be far off, this world will be swept 
by fire, and divine vengeance will shake the highest 
mountains of earth. The earth itself will melt with 
fervent heat — and there will be no ark, as was in Noah's 
day, that can ride on the molten sea; and no power can 
stop nor prayer stay that overthrow. 

Warnings to the Sinner 

What awful warnings are given to the sinner and 
what appeals are made to his reason, intellect, and con- 
science, and how loudly the spirit knocks at the door of 
his heart! Wherever he turns, whithersoever he looks, 
however he acts, whatever he thinks, the sinner sees evi- 
dences of law and signs of danger. The path of the 
Lawgiver is in the heavens. His voice is heard in the 
thunder's roar and his power is manifest in the earth- 
quake's shock. His voice resounds in the hollow mur- 



120 PEOBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

murs of the past and pierces forth above the commer- 
cial rattle of the present. In every leaf that fades and 
falls, in all things small or great, in all events mo- 
mentous or inconsequent, in all places near or distant, 
in all times recent or remote, law has its tokens, God 
has his witnesses, and retribution its portents. 

When I meditate upon these awful truths, I wish I 
could write with a thousand pens and warn every man, 
woman, and child in the whole wide world. Oh, awful 
thought to the sinner, that in the day of judgment every- 
thing — every event, every word, every thought — ^with 
which he has had ought to do, directly or indirectly, 
will appear against him; his own heart will condemn 
him ; and God, who is greater than his heart and knoweth 
all things, will pronounce the awful sentence, ^^Depart, 
ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil 
and his angels^^ ! And as it is with the individual sinner, 
so shall it be with the sinful world. Approaching retri- 
bution is written upon every page of history. 

The bloodshed, the lust, the treachery, the corruption, 
the avarice, the ambition, the innumerable acts of sel- 
fishness, the records of which fill up the annals of time — 
all are written upon God^s book of remembrance. The 
men and women whose vices, whose ungovernable pas- 
sions, whose various abominations have made them fa- 
mous, like Henry VIII and Bloody Queen Mary; the 
men who carved their way to honor, or shame, with the 
sword, like Napoleon and Emperor William of Germany; 
the men who have crept stealthily and meanly into the 
aflEections of other men^s wives, have broken up homes 
and cheated every one but the High God by their hy- 
pocrisy — these together with such of all future ages 



THE LAW OF CAUSE AND EFFECT 121 

will some day meet an angry God, and stand face to 
face with all their crimes. Oh, awful day of reckoning 
when sinful men mnst meet the One who will ride forth 
with his vesture dipped in blood! 

Punishment For Stn 

Justice demands that man be punished for his sins; 
the law of cause and effect demands it; and the cer- 
tainty of retribution forms the basis of the system of 
grace. The system of grace forms the sole alternative 
from the curse. Does not the fact that Christ died to 
save from that awful curse prove that to reject him 
is to meet with final disaster — death? Sin, death, and 
damnation are behind the Christian man or woman. 
Their pathway is steep and leads upward, and at every 
step they are harassed by the enemy of all mankind. 
But they hold on their way ; they turn their backs upon 
the evil. There is no retreat for the Christian, for be- 
hind him is the city of death and destruction. 

The law of cause and effect will in time correct every 
wrong and bring every haughty spirit down. Ultimately 
the feet of the wicked will slide, whether it be a king 
upon a throne or a peasant wearing wooden shoes. We 
read of one whom even proud England feared, before 
whose strength even the Mistress of the Seas trembled ; 
but we also read of his defeat and how he meanly died 
in lonely exile, a prisoner, amid the thunders of the 
skies and the booming of the seas. His throne could 
not save him from the effects of cause in this world, 
neither will be jeweled crowns and golden scepters save 
in the world to come. Sin will be punished. 

But there have been thousands of brave and fearless 



122 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

men and women whose life's record has not been kept, 
except in heaven, and at whose death hardly an ac- 
quaintance, much less a stranger, took note, who, if they 
could speak from their unmarked graves, would tell 
of a triumph more glorious than that of which any 
earthly warrior ever dreamed. The battle they fought 
was a moral one, but they were victors, and by reason 
of the law of cause and effect are wearing crowns of 
joy in a land of rest beyond the setting sun. 

Separation of Good From Bad 

That a moral gulf separates unlike characters now, 
every one will admit ; but what about the future beyond 
death? Shall the wheat and tares grow together until 
the harvest and then be gathered into the same garner ? 
Nature and revelation agree as to the fact of a distinc- 
tion between good and evil, between good men and bad 
men. The issue of the system of grace determines the 
certainty of retribution. The very fact that the church 
of God shall triumph over her enemies proves beyond 
a reasonable doubt that the sheep shall be separated 
from the goats, the wheat shall be separated from the 
chaff, which is to be burned up with unquenchable fire. 
The opposers of God and his church will meet with a 
sad end; for we must not forget that not one drop of 
righteous blood was ever shed in vain, that not one 
word of contempt spoken against the saints has ever been 
forgotten, and that whatever has been done to the least 
of the followers of Christ has been done unto Him. We 
do not wonder that awful judgments hang over this 
wicked world like a black cloud. Law claims its victims, 
and grace approves the claims. Where on the face of 



THE LAW OF CAUSE AND EFFECT 123 

the earth is there a spot not desecrated by the transgres- 
sions of law and not still more desecrated by contempt 
of grace ! Oh, the awful weight and sorrow of a sinful 
heart! The guilt and remorse of conscience must be 
more terrible than the inquisition hooks, and the weight 
more crushing than that of the mountains and rocks 
beneath which the sinner vainly seeks to hide himself 
from the vengeance of the wrath of God. 

The Final Chapter of Eaeth 

The awful judgment scene beggars all description. 
Dante^s imagination fails to set it forth properly. No 
artist has ever been able to put that awful picture upon 
canvas, nor writer to correctly paint it with his pen. 
The contrast of that day will be that of blackest mid- 
night with the brightest day; a robe of purest white 
and a shroud of darkest crape. The tempest will soon 
break upon this old world, and the rivers will stop their 
onward flow to the sea. The mighty oceans that heave 
and swell as if the great heart of the earth throbbed 
beneath them, will lie still like a great giant who is 
dead. Hushed will be the wild bird's song, silent the 
shouts of mirth, and motionless the tide of life. No 
more shall the sound of the woodman's ax ring out as 
in primeval days, nor the hum of business ascend from 
the busy streets; no more shall the student ponder over 
his books, nor the artist gaze upon the glories of the 
setting sun. The orator will stop before the climax 
is reached, and the poet no more shall touch immortal 
strings. The king will lay off his purple robes and the 
lowly peasant his wooden shoes. Statesmen will no 
more be needed to control the affairs of state, nor general 



124 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

to lead his armies on. No more shall men welcome 
the warm days of spring, nor feel the winter's chilling 
blast. No more shall the children gather home at Christ- 
mastide, nor holy incense ascend from the family altar 
of prayer ; for the day of earth and earthly things shall 
have passed. The period of God's waiting for men to 
repent will be forever over, and the door of mercy closed 
to open no more. The law of cause and effect that has 
been held in partial abeyance while redemption was 
active, and the church of God gathered, will now assert 
itself in destructive power upon a guilty world. The 
final separation now takes place, and the sheep and the 
goats will each pursue their way out into vast eternity 
— one path leading to the mansions of love and light 
beyond the skies, and the other down the dark winding 
pathway into the bottomless pit. The church of God 
will then be safe; but death will be the state of a lost 
world, relieved by no hope, softened by no consolation. 
Oh, why do not men stop and think! Why do they 
not become awakened to God's love and plaa before it is 
too late? Oh, v^hy do not men prepare to meet their 
God ? This is the day of mercy. The Holy Ghost says, 
^Today if you will hear his voice, harden not your 
hearts.'^ God's time is now, and his place is here. Will 
you let the day of mercy pass unheeded? Will you by 
your attitude say, **No," to the world's best friend, 
and die in sin and be lost forever? Sinner, repent 
today, and begin a new and better life. Begin NOW. 



CHAPTEE XIV 

MAN: HIS PRESENT AND FUTURE 

Man is a created being. If created^ he is dependent; 
and if dependent^ he must be responsible to some supe- 
rior agency. Not having made himself, he can not sus- 
tain himself nor have perfect control over his being. 
Being a creature, he must be subject to his creator; 
for the creator is greater and wiser than the thing 
created. God, being man^s creator, has power to judge 
man^s actions and to watch his every move. Man is 
under the inspection of God every minute of the day 
and night; God^s eye runs to and fro in all the earth 
beholding the evil and the good. All things are naked 
and open to the glance of him with whom we have to 
do. Man is a moral being, more than inert matter 
blindly obeying physical laws. He is more than vegeta- 
tion, or animal life which by instinct is led, caring 
nothing for right or wrong. Man is possessed of moral 
consciousness, conscience, personality, and will. He tas 
thoughts of good and bad, he knows good from evil, and 
it is this knowledge, imperfect though it be, this ability 
to discern between right and wrong, that proves the 
truth of the statement that he is responsible for his 
conduct to a superior power. 

God's Chabactee Seen 

SincCj man is such a creature, it is evident that his 
Creator is also possessed with moral character and at- 
tributes. A creature can not possess a character higher 
than its creator any more than a stream can rise higher 



126 PEOBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

than its head. A being with a will, conscience, and in- 
telligence could not be created by a being of lower order. 
Only the fool has said in his heart, ^^There is no God." 
Obedience could not be demanded if there were no law, 
nor could man rightly be commanded to give allegiance 
until authority be revealed; hence, if God des^^'^s man 
to obey him, he will make known to him his will, and 
appeal to his reason and intelligence. 

Man^s Only Safe Guide and Judge 

Instinct is not a safe guide for man, for we see 
destructiveness through all animate creation, from man 
down to the smallest insect; nature in all its grandeur 
does not disclose a perfect law. Conscience is not a safe 
guide, for it is only an echo of a defective and distorted 
education, as is proved by the fact that some religions 
have educated the consciences of their followers to be- 
lieve that they do God's service when they murder those 
who do not agree with them. Conscience, nature, nor 
instinct tell us how many Gods there be, hence, with 
man so guided, idols of wood, fire, stone, and even human 
beings have been worshiped. An abstract idea of God's 
will has never satisfied man, hence a written revelation 
was a universal necessity. All nations have their sacred 
books ; but the Bible alone has the stamp of divine origin. 
The word of God, or his will concerning his creatures, 
is to be found in the Bible and no place else. As true, 
then, as there is a God, that he created man a mora) 
creature, and that man is responsible, it must follow 
that God has given man a law, a safe guide for him 
to follow, and this safe guide is the Bible, which will 
also be our judge in the last day. 



MAN: HIS PRESENT AND FUTURE 127 

Things Seen and Unseen 
There is a natural world which is to last but for a 
time and then pass away; but there is also a spiritual 
world, which will last throughout all eternity. Man is 
a compound being, and is in correspondence with both 
the visible and the invisible world. In speaking of man, 
the apostle Paul states plainly that "there is a natural 
body and there is a spiritual body.^^ Jesus said to 
ISTicodemus, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, 
and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.^' Both 
the outward and inward part of man has a form : "And 
the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground.^^ 
(Gen. 2:7.) "And formeth the spirit of man within 
him.'^ (Zech. 13:1.) "But though our outward man 
perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.'' 
Paul declares that things seen, which includes our bodies, 
are only for a time. The outer man is corruptible. Solo- 
mon, in Eccl. 12:7, in speaking of natural death, de- 
clared, "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it 
was : and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.'' 
Many people by their actions seem to teach us that this 
life and this world are the only things that are tangible 
and real; while, in fact, this present world stands in 
the same relation to the real as a scaffolding used in 
building a house does to the house itself. The scaffold- 
ing is simply a temporary stage, and when the house 
is completed it is taken down because it is no longer 
needed. 

An Infidel's Mistake 

A noted infidel in making light of God's work once 
said that be could have done better himself, for he would 



128 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

have made health contagious instead of disease. He conld 
see no farther than the literal, and his plan would have 
benefited the natural man only. God does not encour- 
age man to place much thought upon the natural, mate- 
rial world, but he again and again instructs us to set 
our affections upon things above. The great truth that 
man must choose, and that he must reap according to 
his choosing, must reap what he sows, hangs over the 
whole world of mankind. The law that men must reap 
what they sow offers protection to those who choose the 
right. An ungodly person may leave behind him a 
blasting influence of sorrow and woe that is to roll 
onward to the end of time. A godly man may start 
influences like a river of blessings that will also roll 
onward, making men happy until the end of time. Not 
until the great climax of human events has been reached 
— -the conclusion of all deeds that go to make up the 
sum total of results — will men properly understand the 

mighty importance of having lived right. 

'■■ ■ i I ■ . 

A Eetrospect OF Life 

When time shall have passed into eternity, and we 
stand amidst the realities of that heavenly w^orld and 
look backward to this life, we then shall understand 
more fully that this life is but a vapor, and that visible 
things are simply temporary— to be used only for a time. 
The earth will not abide forever, for it is made of 
crumbling dust, and belongs to things material. The 
sun, which has been shining for ages, will pass out of 
existence. The soul of man, with its affections and ca- 
pacities, will never die, but in a world especially pre- 
pared for it, it will increase and develop while ages roll 



MAN: HIS PRESENT AND FUTURE 129 

on. The mortal flesh is simply the house in which we 
live and through which we correspond with this material 
world; it is simply the weight that holds us to this 
earth. Progression of the soul is here retarded and 
hindered in many ways, and its power of locomotion is 
limited by reason of weakness of the flesh ; but when at 
last death looses us from our earthly surroundings, our 
souls will fly away to that better country to enjoy un- 
limited, unbounded freedom in that land where things 
are eternally enduring. 

Consistency of a Final Judgment 

To be consistent, if we acknowledge the righteousness 
of punishing one man guilty of an offence, we must also 
acknowledge the righteousness of the same punishment 
for the same crime committed by any other man, and 
the punishment of all men so guilty. Justice, then, 
demands that man be punished for his crimes. Human 
legislation binds on man imperfect laws, leaving inany 
loopholes; it is limited in its scope and defective in its 
operation. Human laws are not sufficient in every sense. 
Two men each commit a crime of equal violence ; one is 
caught, deprived of his life ; the other escapes detectives, 
and hence punishment, and lives and enjoys freedom. Is 
that justice? Human legislation, too, forbids external 
doings, but can not take notice of nor punish motives 
hidden in the heart. Not only does logic demand a 
final judgment, but the Bible declares that God will 
bring all things into judgment, whether they be good 
or bad. 

No Escape on That Day 

Men may hide themselves in the deepest corners of 



130 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

rocky fortresses, but who can hide himself from God? 
The Almighty will bring the guilty one who escaped the 
vigilance of human law out of his hiding-place and 
stand him before the One who sits as Judge of all the 
earth. Although the Lord seemingly delays his coming, 
and ages may yet roll on, there will be no safe retreat 
for the culprit to escape impending justice. The grave 
itself will not hide him; for God shall speak, and the 
dead shall hear his voice and come forth. Oh, aw^ful 
day, when granite rocks shall rend, tombs burst wide 
open, and the gates of death unlock and stand apart to 
close no more forever! Death then shall be eternally 
left behind. No more will mercy's door swing open to 
iiivite those to enter who closed their earthly life in sin 
and rebellion against the throne of God. Awful beyond 
all description will be that day when all nations and 
tongues shall meet and individually give a final account 
to their Creator — to Almighty God. 

^Vhat an awful day when God, who knows, shall touch 
the hidden springs of human actions and weigh the 
motives of every heart ! Oh, the pallid faces on one side 
of the great white throne! Think of the happy ones 
upon the other side! Though all shall meet together, 
yet the examination will be personal. No one can ap- 
pear by proxy, as before an earthly court, but ^^every 
one of us shall give account of himself to God.'' Riches, 
diadems, scepters, honor, pride, glory, traditions, and 
professions will all be left behind when men stand before 
their God, with no one to plead their cause. The books 
will be opened. The broken marriage vows, betrayed 
confidences, neglected duties, false statements, religious 
pretenses, disputings of God's Word, holiness fighting, 



MOEAL RESPONSIBILITY 131 

infant murdering, the secret acts of free love, and every 
other dishonest thing will be uncovered upon that day 
of days. 

A Way of Escape 

Thank God, there is a way of escape, and that is Jesus 
Christ. 

If the reader is a guilty person, repent of your sins, 
and ask God to forgive, and believe with all your heart, 
and all the dark past will be blotted out and remembered 
against you no more forever. 



CHAPTEE XV 

MORAL RESPONSIBILITY 

The religious instinct — or sense of moral obligation 
to a higher power — has been springing up spontaneously 
in the hearts of mankind in every age and among all 
nations. And since nature prompts him to do so, it is 
perfectly reasonable that man should worship something. 
Intuitively, man looks up for help. We are surrounded 
by powerful influences and potent energies, and our ig- 
norance distracts and bewilders us. Conscious of its 
weakness, and instinctively believing in something it 
can not see, the soul looks upward for relief and strength. 
Earthly objects do not satisfy the longing soul. Physical 
wants may be satisfied; abstract philosophy may satisfy 
the mind; but the soul, living in a higher sphere or 
plane, still longs for something that is eternal. Emo- 
tions and satisfactions that spring from the earth are 
true to their sphere, but are not lasting. The soul was 
made to live in a higher world, and, looking down from 
that higher plane, is disgusted with what the world 
has to offer. Earthly love and passion may grow cold in 
life, and will end in death. The soul longs for eternal 
sunshine, and blissful environment that never changes. 
Bound up in a human body that is dragging it downward 
and hushing its longings for freedom, the soul, knowing 
well the purpose for which it was made, cries out in 
distress, ^^Where is my hope T^ David answered : ^Why 
art thou cast down, my soul? and why art thou dis- 
quieted in me ? hope thou in God," 

Literature and art offer much to man in the way of 



134 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

developing the mind; bnt pure religion brings out the 
best there is in him, and develops the finer instincts of 
the soul. Mankind advances only as he looks upward 
and away from self and material objects. The more he 
thinks of God, the wider becomes his range of vision. 
The capacity of the soul can be expanded by daily inter- 
course with God, and thoughts of eternity. Eternal life 
can not come from, nor be maintained by, things of 
earth. The soul knows full well that what it longs for 
is an uninterrupted correspondence with an environment 
that will not pass away. 

Wrong Trend of Modern Theology 

The trend of modem theology points man away 
from God by attempting to undermine his faith in 
the Bible. It denies the fact of miracles, and it 
at one time divides and another time ignores the 
Deity. To ignore the fact of miracles on the one 
hand, and to give credence to fate on the other 
hand, as modern theology does at times, is incon- 
sistent with Christianity. The Bible is plain and 
comprehensible, and needs no man's defence. Its bril- 
liant light is shining over a thousand hills, and in a 
million hearts God sits upon the throne above ^^fate'^ 
and ^^chance.^' 

Wrong Conceptions of God 

Thousands of souls are perplexed today relative to 
the character of God and subject of sin. Two extremes 
have been taken, namely, one lajdng emphasis upon 
God's love being so great that he will wink at, or over- 
look, anything wrong that men may do ; and the other 



MORAL RESPONSIBILITY 135 

that he sits upon his throne watching every move of the 
human race, ready to mete out vengeance upon everyone 
who might make a mistake or side-step from the path 
of duty and virtue. One position gives license to almost 
any carnal act ; while the other robs God of all love, and 
almost precludes the fact that men can be really saved 
from their evil doings, and the power of sin be so com- 
pletely broken that men can be masters instead of slaves. 

The Results op Choice 

It is a fact that there is only one moral road in the 
spiritual universe, and that all the world of mankind 
are, by choice, traveling in one direction or the other. 
The door of choice opens before each individual, and he 
can choose whichever direction he desires to go. If he 
wills he can choose the upward path ; and then, by main- 
taining his integrity to God, every day^s work will add 
to his moral worth, and thus his footsteps become surer, 
his pathway brighter, and his courage stronger, until at 
last he rises above the clouds of earth and enters the 
eternal city. If he chooses the pathway leading down- 
ward, every day's action, by the law of accumulation, 
adds to his load of sorrow, his pathway becomes more 
slippery and perilous as it descends, and at last he 
passes over the line of mercy and is lost to God, hope, 
and the pure in heart forever. 

"There is a line by us unseen. 

Which crosses every path; 
The hidden boundary-line between 

God's patience and His wrath." 

Ignorance Concerning Sin 
The words of Jesus, the Master-Teacher, uttered while 



136 PKOBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

he traveled the flinty hills of Galilee, are still ringing 
through the ages:' 'Ye shall die in your sins, whither 
I go ye CAN NOT come/' Again and again he taught 
his disciples that nothing unclean, deceitful, or unholy 
could enter that heavenly country he was going to pre- 
pare for those who were willing to follow his steps. He 
made a distinct line between the moral and the immoral, 
between those ^Vho serve God, and those who serve him 
noV 

Many times we have heard those who profess to be 
Christians pray as follows, ^'Lord forgive us our many 
sins,'' etc. In a popular religious hymn we find these 
words, '^Forgive the secret sins we do not know.'' We 
often hear testimonies to the effect that the testifier is 
not sure whether he is saved or not. We have heard 
intelligent people testify that they were saved many 
weeks or months before they knew it, or became aware 
of the fact. A fundamental mistake has been made 
somewhere in our religious teaching, for the Bible speaks 
in positive terms that ^Tie that hath the Son hath life; 
and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life," and 
that God will ^^give knowledge of salvation unto his peo- 
ple by the remission of their sins." The whole tenor of 
Scripture is to the effect that the day we call upon God, 
he will answer us, and if we seek him with our whole 
heart we shall find him. If we allow the premise that 
one could be saved six months and not know it, by the 
same logic we could deduct that we might lose it six 
months and not be aware of the fact, which is as ridicu- 
lous as it is unscriptural. 



MORAL RESPONSIBILITY 137 

True Ethics of Moral Action 
Every idea has an impulsive element. The child sees 
a green apple, or the moon, and wants it; it acts regard- 
less of digestibility or distance. We see the same impul- 
sive element in grown people. Peter, for example, when 
he jumped into the Sea of Galilee. We educate our 
children to wait and reason before they act, for intelli- 
gent action is always based upon intelligent thinking. 
There are three kinds of acts, namely, moral, non-moral, 
and immoral. 1. Moral acts — acts in harmony with the 
laws of society, of conscience, and the Word of God. 3. 
Non-moral — ^not involving principles of right and 
wrong; requiring no action of the will, involuntary. 3. 
Immoral — acts out of harmony with the laws of society 
or standards of moral actions. 

VoLiTioNAi. Acts 

Motive marks the dividing line between moral and im- 
moral action in spiritual matters ; for sin — ^transgression 
of God's law — in its entirety does not consist alone in 
outward acts, but in the heart's giving consent to do 
or not to do. An act of which the Lord takes 
notice must be the result of knowledge. During 
the Old Testament dispensation there were sins of 
ignorance, much like there are today in statutory 
law; but that is not true with respect to the 
gospel. Proof: ^* Therefore to him that knoweth 
to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin" 
(Jas. 4:17). ^* Jesus said unto them, If ye were 
blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say We 
see; therefore your sin remaineth'' (John 9:41). Paul, 
when relating his former condition, said: ^^Por I was 



138 PEOBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

alive without the law once [when he was an innocent 
child] : but when the commandment came [when he 
had learned right from wrong], sin revived, and I died'^ 
(Rom. 7:9). "For where no law is, there is no trans- 
gression^' (4:15). ^^I had not known sin, but by the 
law : for I had not known lust, except the law had said, 
Thou Shalt not covef' (7:7). 

To commit sin, then, we must knowingly, voluntarily, 
do what the Bible forbids, or positively refuse or omit 
to do that which it commands or enjoins. Many an hon- 
est soul has stumbled over 1 Cor. 13 : 5, which states that 
those who are filled with the love of God ^^thinketh no 
evil, ' ' etc. Thoughts come into our mind from various 
sources, namely, from the Lord, from the devil, from 
passion, from the creative or reflective power of the 
brain, from what we see, hear, smell, or taste. These 
thoughts — no matter whether good or evil — are not our 
thoughts until we give consent to them by our will. For 
example : The devil might have pushed Christ off the 
pinnacle of the temple, but that would have accom- 
plished nothing; so he tempted Christ to act voluntarily, 
which Christ positively refused to do. The Bible states 
that Christ was tempted in all points like as we are, yet 
was without sin, i. e., he never yielded. 

"Yield not to temptation. 
For yielding is sin." 

The motive behind the act defines and determines the 
innocence or the guilt. 

Steps to the Committing of Sin 
1. Temptation, — Every person is tempted when al- 



MORAL RESPONSIBILITY 139 

lured to do what he knows to be wrong, and he is en- 
ticed when the matter in question seems to be desirable 
to perform. 

2. Choice. — Events make neither heroes nor cowards 
— they simply reveal them ; similarly, temptation makes 
neither sinners nor saints — it simply reveals them. We 
choose to do, whether good or bad. Choice, the second 
step in the committing of sin, then leads to the third 
step. 

3. Action, — In reality, sin is committed when the 
choice to do wrong is made. Action is but the sin made 
visible, it is that which reveals our sin to man and 
effects transgression against society as well as against 
God. 

The Number of Sins That Make a Sinner 

In 1 John 3 :4, we read, ^^Sin is the transgression of 
the law." Transgression is a compound word, and the 
prefix ^^trans," meaning across, over, is in common 
usage. We find its proper meaning in such words as 
transpose, translate, transparent, transmigrate, trans- 
atlantic. The Bible forbids certain acts, and he who 
deliberately disobeys is called a transgressor, i. e., one 
who crosses over upon forbidden ground. ^^Judas by 
transgression fell" (Acts 1:25). 

Many are deceived concerning the effects of one sin. 
People have been taught to believe that one sin is not 
very dangerous, and that all commit sin occasionally. 
We must not forget that the Christian life consists in a 
relationship or an attitude for Christ, and that a sinful 
life also is an attitude against Christ. The number of 
sins committed will not decide our eternal destiny, but 



140 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

we shall be judged by principles and attitudes rather 
than by external acts. Suppose a man murders one man, 
another murders ten men, and a third murders twenty 
men. All are caught and condemned to death. They 
will not hang the man twenty times who killed twenty 
men, nor the man who killed ten men ten times, but they 
will hang all of them once, because they were all mur- 
derers. How many spots of leprosy would one need to 
have to be a leper? How many sins would one need to 
commit to be a sinner? What does the Bible say about 
one sin ? ^^For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and 
yet offend in one point, is guilty of alF^ ( Jas. 2 :10) . It 
is the principle of sin that is wrong, for one sin contains 
the seeds of all other sins; hence, ^^Transgressors shall 
be destroyed together,'^ and, "The soul that sinneth, it 
shall die/^ 

No one is absolutely safe until he is saved, not only 
from the outward practise of sin, but also from the love 
of it. Jesus Christ has appeared in the end of the world 
to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, and it is ap- 
pointed unto man once to die, and after this the judg- 
ment. So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of 
many, and unto them who look for him will he appear a 
second time, without a sin offering. On that day he will 
lay aside his mediatorial robes for those of judgment, and 
the sheep and the goats will take their proper places, 
the balance of life will be struck, and each will go to his 
eternal reward. That will be the last act in the great 
drama of life. Reader, on which side will you stand ? 



CHAPTER XVI 
THE INFINITE GOD 

All nations believe in a great ^Tirst Cause/' a God; 
a moral fall; and a life beyond the grave. Altars to a 
known or unknown God have been erected in every age 
and in every clime. The true God is an infinite, spirit- 
ual Being, and can not be demonstrated by mathematics 
or chemistry. God is not a physical entity, and thus 
can not be revealed by the sense of smell, taste, feeling, 
nor heard by the physical ear. He can be discovered 
only by the sixth sense — the moral sense. The Israelites 
demanded a sign, and so God tried in various ways to 
reveal himself. He spoke in thunder-tones from the 
mountain-side, and appeared in pillars of smoke and 
fire. He led them v^ith a mighty hand ; fed them with 
manna from the skies and imported quails from over 
the sea. But the more he tried to demonstrate himself 
to them, the thicker became the veil. The Greeks sought 
after wisdom, and seemingly believed they could discover 
God by mental efforts; but they failed miserably, al- 
though they reasoned to the tenth power. When the 
great apostle Paul visited Athens, the very seat of Gre- 
cian civilization, he found that they knew of the infinite 
God only as an unknown quantity. He told them that 
the God they ignorantly worshiped was a spirit, and that 
he was God of the whole earth. 

Jesus was walking through Samaria, and came to Sy- 
char, and stopped at Jacob's weU to quench his thirst. 
He asked a Samaritan woman to give him a drink. An 
interesting conversation took place, and finally the wo- 



142 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

man perceived that her visitor was a prophet, and a Jew. 
She then threw out to him the remark that the fathers 
of Samaria *' worshiped in this mountain/' meaning 
Mt. Gerizim, their religion was that taught by Sanbal- 
lat, the Horonite; '^Ye say, "she continued, ** that in 
Jerusalem is the place where men ought to wor- 
ship." ** Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe 
me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in 
this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the 
Father. Ye know not what: we know what we 
worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the 
hour cometh, and now is, when the true wor- 
shipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in 
truth : for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God 
is a Spirit : and they that worship him must worship him 
in spirit and in truth'^ (John 4:21-24). Thus Jesus 
revealed the nature of God. And from that day to this, 
it matters not where, on the mountain-top or in the 
valley low, upon what seas or underneath what skies, 
where one, two, three or more, are bowed in humility 
of heart, there is erected an altar of prayer. If God 
were a literal being today, we would kill the fatted 
calf, or take him a garland of flowers. If he were 
dwelling in some city or hamlet across the sea, we 
would go on a pilgrimage to do him homage; but 
God is a Spirit, and dwelleth not in temples made 
by hands. The sacrifices acceptable to him are con- 
trite hearts and submissive wills. 
The New Testament reveals God as 

Infinite in Existence 
The God whom true Christians worship is boundless, 



THE INFINITE GOD 143 

limitless, unchangeable, and eternal. He can not be fully 
explained. To attempt to bring him into the scope of 
language would be an attempt to bring him into limita- 
tions, which is impossible. He is the high and lofty One, 
who inhabiteth eternity. Infinite is he in his existence. 
Time to him is as though it were not ; he takes no par- 
ticular notice of an hour, a day, a month, or year; a 
thousand years is as but one day with him. He takes 
less notice of a period of duration than we would of a 
dry leaf falling to the ground. Being infinite in exist- 
ence, he has ability to fulfill all of his promises relative 
to time. Being eternal, he is able to keep us from 
falling during lifers short period, to be with us in death, 
and to be our companion throughout all eternity. He 
is unchangeable in nature, and this is a guarantee that 
his attitude toward us will never change ; that fact brings 
confidence and trust to a weary soul, and stimulates 
courage in those who are weak. God is limitless in 
knowledge. In Acts 15 :18 we read, "Known unto God 
are all his works from the beginning of the world.'* 
The blue-print of creation is ever before him, and he 
remembers the combination of circumstances leading up 
to the fall of Adam and Eve in that early morning of 
time. He knows every event that has happened back- 
ward to the beginning, and he can lift the curtain and 
see what will take place unto the very end of time. "Ee- 
member the former things of old; for I am God, and 
there is none else.'^ "I am God,^^ he declares, "and 
there is none like me.^' "Declaring the end from the be- 
ginning, and from ancient times the things that are 
not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will 
do all my pleasure'^ (Isa. 46:9,10). There is no cave 



144 PEOBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

so deep where God can not see the guilty one, for day- 
light and darkness are both alike to him. He knows 
the very thoughts and motives of every heart. "For, lo, 
he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, 
and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh 
the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places 
of the earth, the Lord, the God of Hosts, is his name'^ 
(Amos 4:13). Man can not add one inch to the diam- 
eter of the earth, nor subtract one foot from its cir- 
cumference. Man can not add to creation, nor stop the 
wheels of time from rolling on. "I know,'^ declares 
Solomon, "that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for- 
ever : nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from 
it : and God doeth it, that man should fear before him^^ 
(Eccl. 3 :14). The Psalmist, when meditating upon the 
boundlessness and unchangeableness of the nature of 
God wrote in Psa. 102:25-27, ''Of old hast thou laid 
the foundation of the earth : and the heavens are the 
work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt 
endure : yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment ; 
as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall 
be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years 
shall have no end.'' From everlasting to everlasting 
he is God. 

Intinite in Wisdom 

Scientists claim that all things in the great laboratory 
of nature are perfect: from the mighty mastodon of 
pre-historic ages down to the amoeba, or infinitesimal 
electrons, which mark the ultimate division of a sub- 
stance. God makes no mistakes. He works upon the 
plan of economy, hence there is only one sun to shine 



THE INFINITE GOD 145 

upon the earth, one Christ to save from sin, one gospel 
age, one death, one judgment, and one home for the 
saved. He fully understands that mysterious force we 
call life, and how from that transparent, homogeneous 
jelly know^n as protoplasm, can grow a bird, a fish, a 
vegetable, or a man. Whenever we limit the Almighty, 
we set sail upon an uncertain sea. I can see the great- 
ness of God everywhere; not only in the fact that he 
holds the mountains in his hands, but that he marks the 
sparrow^s fall. God knows how many souls there are 
in paradise or lower hades today. He knows all about 
me. He reads our thought as we read a book, and has 
a record of all our acts. He is infinite in wisdom. He 
says to poor, weak man, "If any of you lack v^isdom, 
let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and 
upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.^^ The great 
apostle Paul, when meditating upon God's willingness 
to assist us in solving the problems of life, said, ^T/et us 
therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we 
may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of 
need'' (Heb. 4:16). 

Infinite in Holiness 

God is absolutely pure, and nothing sinful can stand 
in his holy presence. He will not wink at, or overlook, 
the transgression of any law. Sin is not allowed within 
the walls of that heavenly country. 

"Heaven is a holy place, 
Filled with glory and with grace ; 
Sin can never enter there. 
It will stop you at the door, 



146 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

Bar you out forevermore. 
Sin can never enter there/' 

God hates sin just as badly on the earth as he does in 
heaven, and the only reason he allows it here is because 
he recognizes man's free agency. Sin is always wrong. 
It is just as sinful to take God's name in vain in a saloon 
as it would be in the church edifice. God condemned 
sin in the angels, in the garden of Eden, in the Jews, 
and he equally condemns it today. The man who does 
wrong, God will condemn, whether it be a king upon a 
throne or a peasant wearing wooden shoes. God con- 
demned sin in King David, Christ condemned the same 
sin in a poor woman, and the Spirit condemns sin 
equally with the rest of the Godhead. The Father, Son, 
and Holy Ghost were united in man's creation, in his re- 
demption, and will also stand united on the final day of 
judgment. The principle of sin is rebellion, and will 
be branded and punished as such when the balance of 
life is struck. 

Infinite in Justice 

Being infinite in wisdom, God could not be otherwise 
than infinite in justice. He knows, and he will not for- 
get. It was he who set in motion that awful law of 
cause and effect, the law of accumulation, the law of 
compensation; hence, every person will get back dollar 
for dollar, inch for inch, deed for deed. The rich man 
refused Lazarus a crumb of bread, and in turn was re- 
fused a drop of water. God is no respecter of persons, 
and that guarantees a just reward. No bribe will be 
accepted, no private pulls will be recognized. Today is 



THE JUDGMENT DAY 147 

the day of mercy^ but tomorrow may be the judgment 
day. People who have not received justice today will 
get their just dues then. There is no man suffering in 
lower hades today, or will ever suffer in the lake of 
eternal fire, who is innocent. The infinite God is Judge. 
One thought which brings comfort to my heart at this 
time is the fact that on the day of final judgment all 
the innocent will be safe. No person will escape, and 
no deed will be overlooked. Even he who gave a cup of 
water in the name of a disciple will not lose his rev^ard. 
God is also infinite in mercy, and is not willing that any 
should perish, but that they should seek his face and 
live. 

Infinite in Kingship 

The prophet Isaiah, in speaking of the kingship of 
God, said : ^^For unto us a child is born, unto us a son 
is given : and the government shall be upon his shoulder : 
and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the 
Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of 
Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace 
there shall be no end^' (Isa. 9:6, 7). It would not be 
just for the Lord simply to save people and then leave 
them helpless, or provide for them no home. He has 
prepared for them a city, and that hope inspires them 
on. The soul knows full well that the conditions of 
eternal bliss and happiness are not to be found upon this 
earth nor in the bodies we now occupy. Even if the 
earth should never be destroyed, our bodies are doomed 
for death and decay. One may seek a higher altitude, 
a balanced ration, and a perfect sanitation, but he can 
postpone death only temporarily. Even if he possessed 



148 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

an eternal body, he could not live here forever, for heaven 
and earth shall pass away. 

The conditions of eternal life are not possible with onr 
present surroundings. The three conditions necessary 
are: (1) A quality of condition — a new creation — which 
we receive in Christ; "If any man be in Christ, he is a 
new creature.'^ (2) Bodies that will not wear out — 
which we shall receive at the resurrection; "Who shall 
change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto 
his glorious body'^ (Phil. 3:21). "And Jesus answering 
said unto them, . . . They which shall be accounted 
worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from 
the dead, neither . . . die any more: for they are 
equal unto the angels ; and are the children of God, being 
the children of the resurrection'^ (Luke 20:34-36). And 
( 3 ) an environment that will never change. This last 
condition the Master has gone to prepare ; "In my Fath- 
er's house are many mansions : if it were not so, I would 
have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And 
if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, 
and receive you unto myself ; that where I am, there ye 
may be also'' (John 14:2, 3). It is called a new world, 
k heavenly country. The kingdom of God is infinite, un- 
changeable, limitless, and eternal. The blessing of God 
we now possess is limited only by reason of our human 
bodies and environment. With the discoverer we cry, 
"Eureka !" and with the poet we exclaim, "I have found 
it Lord, in thee ! ' ' 



CHAPTEE XVII 

THE JUDGMENT-DAY 

The judgment is a great and solemn event to which 
the world is swiftly hastening. Soon the thoughtless 
millions of earth will be called to halt from their mad 
rush for gold, and then they will discover that the de- 
ceptive bubble has, at last, evaded their grasp. Standing 
in the light of a blazing world and beholding the heavens 
wrapped in sheets of fire, poor sinners will understand, 
and that too late, that the door of mercy has closed to be 
opened no more forever. The judgment is the next great 
coming event, and it will mark the final chapter of 
earthly activities. The path from the cradle to the grave 
is short. Measured in the light of all time, the earthly 
life of man is but a flickering flame, a tiny spark, a flash 
of fire. But that is not all of life. It is but the least 
noteworthy of some lives — of the lives of those who were 
truly great. They live on. We live not only in time, 
but we shall exist throughout all eternity. The sum total 
of all the world has today, of all civilization, all knowl- 
edge, all love, all happiness, all understanding, all the 
joys and comforts and pleasures of existence, are the 
fruits of lives lived before, humans who have gone on, 
beings who existed, struggled, developed, drove ahead, 
and left a better world behind them when they entered 
the tomb, a happier human family, a more desirable ex- 
istence for their children and their children's children. 
The deeds that men do live after them, and the sum 
total of those deeds determines the record they must 
meet upon the judgment day. We will now proceed to 
give five reasons why the judgment day will be the 
greatest day in the history of man. 



150 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

The Greatest Assemblage of All Time 

The greatest concourse of people that ever assembled 
will meet together upon the judgment day. The signal 
will be the trump of God. ^Tor the Lord himself shall 
descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the 
archangel, and with the trump of God.'^ I have tried to 
picture in my mind what the bugle's blast will be like, 
whether loud and deep, like the thunder as it rolls along 
among the threatening clouds, or like the shrill, clarion 
notes of the Alpine bugler, whose sounds echo and rever- 
berate among a thousand hills. Whatever that call of 
God may be like, it matters not; for we know its voice 
will be suflBcient to awake the sleeping dead. 

People expressed surprize in Jesus' day at his teach- 
ing, and upon a certain occasion he increased their be- 
wilderment by exclaiming : ^^Marvel not at this : for the 
hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves 
shall hear his voice, and shall come forth ; they that have 
done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that 
have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation" 
(John 5 :28, 29). What an awful sight to behold all of 
Adam's posterity gathered together in one great crowd, 
with not a straggler left behind ! The lone traveler who 
perished while in search of the north pole, and the men 
w^hose bones lie glistening beneath a tropical sun, will 
together hear the trumpet's sound and arise from 
their beds of heat and cold. That voice shall pene- 
trate the great Westminster Abbey, the burial place 
of kings and poets; and the infamous King Henry 
VIII and Bloody Queen Mary, together with Gladstone 
and Edith Cavell, and all those who sleep in all the 



THE JUDGMENT DAT 151 

cemeteries of earth, shall hear that voice and shall obey 
its call. 

One time the writer visited one of the greatest ceme- 
teries in the world, and it was evening. The summer^s 
sun was setting behind the western sky, and long shad- 
ows were lengthening out upon the plains. All around 
me were tombs and monuments. I thought of that great 
upheaval which will take place when God shall speak 
from the skies, and I said to myself. How idle a boast is 
the immortality of a name or the perpetuity of an em- 
balmment, for at the command of God every grave will 
give up its dead! I thought also of Moses, whom the 
angels buried away in the land of Moab, that his body 
would also come forth and take its place before the 
judgment seat of Christ. The mummified bodies of those 
who lived in other days, who now lie in state in museums 
or catacombs, upon that day will burst their ancient 
wrappings and stand up to be judged by the great God 
of heaven and earth. 

The sea also shall give up its dead. Down among the 
coral reefs of the ocean, where the petrified bodies of 
Christian and pirate lie, that voice shall reach. The 
bodies of those who went down with the Titanic, the 
Lusitania, the Slocum, the Eastland, and every other 
wreck at sea, will hear that trumpet call and arise from 
their watery graves. Oh, awful day, when the unnum- 
bered dead shall arise from their beds of dust! when 
granite mausoleums shall burst asunder ! and all Chris- 
tians, all murderers, and those murdered, upon whatso- 
ever seas, or under whatsoever skies, shall meet before 
the King of kings and the Lord of lords ! Daniel de- 
clared that the multitude of those who sleep in the earth 



152 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame 
and everlasting contempt. 

Time Shall Be No Longer 

The ceaseless flight of time has been the subject of 
much reflection in the minds of serious men in all ages. 
Essays, poems, proverbs have been written expressing the 
sentiments awakened in reflective minds as they beheld 
the onward course of the great river of time, bearing on 
its bosom all things mortal. Time has been the most 
victorious conqueror of all ages. Before his scythe the 
strong form has bowed and been laid low. The sword 
that carved out ancient empires has become useless and 
rusty by the hand of Time. No man has written his 
name so high in the temple of earthly fame and glory 
but what Time shall cause it to perish. Man has built 
monuments on the earth : cities intended by those who 
built them to endure always, have been changed by Time 
in his onward march. The drifting sands of the desert 
are now blown across the places where once proud capi- 
tals of empires stood. Man has by his intellect and 
genius bound the mighty giant Steam and compelled 
him to work. He has harnessed the invisible forces 
of electricity and can turn on or off its current as he 
pleases: but before the onward course of Time, he is 
helpless. Not for a moment will time pause in his 
flight, though the efforts of all things mortal were 
concentrated upon that one purpose. 

But though Time will not heed the beseeching cries 
of mortals, he instantly acknowledges the commands of 
Him who inhabits eternity. God who carved the frac- 
tion time out of infinite eternity, has determined its end, 



THE JUDGMENT DAY 153 

and soon he will com mission his angels to stand upon 
the sea and land and swear that time shall be no longer. 
How solemn the mind becomes as we approach the limits 
of time and view the portals of great eternity! Time 
no longer! To the unsaved this must be particularly 
solemn. Time has been full of God-given opportunities 
for men to prepare for the ushering in of eternity. Christ 
has, for long ages, sat upon the throne of mercy. The 
fountain filled with blood has been freely opened for sin 
and uncleanness. The Spirit of God has pleaded might- 
ily at the door of men's hearts. The gates of paradise 
have stood ajar. The star of hope will always shine while 
time lasts; there are few human hearts over whom its 
rays are not shed. Hope lives long and dies hard in the 
realm of time; but when that mighty angel shall have 
lifted his hand to heaven, for those who are still unsaved 
the star of hope will have forever set. In place of its 
elevating influence, the dark pall of eternal despair will 
cast its gloomy shadow across the sinner^s sky. In dark 
waters of remorse the human soul will sink downward. 
What we know of sin^s effects during time foreshadows 
the fearful depths of suffering that await the guilty one 
in vast eternity. The cessation of time will open the 
flood-gates for those waters to flow in upon the soul 
forever. No hope, no comfort, no love, no light, no 
peace, no joy, no bright tomorrow, no sweet by and by; 
but dark despair, wretched remorse, a lashing conscience, 
demons, and, worse than all else, the eye of an angry 
God — ^these things, and even more, will fill up the sin- 
ner^s existence in the dungeons of hell, when time has 
completed its course and eternity has begun. Oh, 
eternity! thou ageless age! upon whose broad expanse 



154 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

ten thousand ages are but foam. Eternity ! No ages to 
count, no cycles to roll around, no infant days or old age, 
and no end! Oh, my God! what has eternity in store 
for me? What pain, what sorrow, what remorse? or 
what joys, what happiness hast thou in store for me 
when time shall have run its course? 

When time ends, every clock in the universe will stop, 
and every human heart will cease to beat. The Indian 
will stop chasing the deer, and the miser will stop count- 
ing his gold ; the plow will be left in the field with the 
furrow unturned, and the woman will drop her broom — 
and all will hasten to the judgment bar of God. The 
poor neglecter will stand aghast when he beholds the 
door of mercy closed never to be opened again. There 
will be no loved ones to greet the sinner in the dark 
regions of despair; for maternal love, paternal pity, and 
brotherly consolation will never be known in that land of 
demons and moral outlaws. Oh, God, help men and 
women to place a more proper estimate upon the value of 
time and opportunity while time still exists ! 

The World Shall Burn Up 

Jesus said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away.'^ And 
Peter exclaimed : "The Lord is not slack concerning his 
promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suf- 
fering toward us, not willing that any should perish, 
but that all should come to repentance. But the day of 
the Lord will come as a thief in the night ; in the which 
the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the 
elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and 
the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing 
then that all these things shall be dissolved, what man- 



THE JUDGMENT DAT 155 

ner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and 
godliness. Looking for and hasting unto the coming of 
the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall 
be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent 
heatr (2 Pet. 3:9-12). 

The story is told of a man who built a frame house 
in a place where great hurricanes ofttimes swept across 
the plains. He had been warned time and again, but to 
no avail. One day, without warning the storm came on. 
The family fled to a sod house just in time to see the 
former structure scattered by the wind. The storm in- 
creased its awful fury, and they ran to the cave in time 
to see the sod house also scattered across the plains. The 
storm still increased, and the v^ater filled up the cave, 
and they were all driven out into the storm. Some lost 
their lives, and their property was all destroyed. It will 
be the same upon that final judgment day. An awful 
storm of fire will sweep across the earth and sky. The 
poor sinner will have no place to go. He will flee from 
his moral works, and the house of tradition will be de- 
stroyed. His refuge of lies shall be swept away, and 
naked he vrill be forced to stand in the presence of 
Almighty God. Oh, awful consternation ! Men calling 
for rocks and mountains to hide them from the face of 
Him who sitteth upon the throne! But the rocks and 
mountains shall have fled away, and naked, destitute, 
with no one to plead their cause, poor sinners will meet 
their doom. Like one of old, thank God, I can say, 
"In the Eock of Ages I will hide me till the storm be 
overpast.^^ 

Man's Attitude Will Change 

Few, indeed, gave heed to the teaching of Jesus Christ 



156 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

when he walked the shores of Galilee. The sermons he 
preached on the mountain-sides of that eastern country 
were masterpieces, and twenty centuries of brained men 
have not been able to add anything of worth to the 
rules and maxims he laid down in that long-ago age. 
He had no name, and his voice was not heard in the 
streets. He was a great man — the compassionate One, 
the friend of sinners — yet he was not appreciated. God 
declared at one time that Christ was his Son, and Jesus 
often declared himself to be the Son of God; but man 
could not be compelled to believe that it was true. Great 
men have arisen, like Cicero and Seneca, of Rome ; Soc- 
rates and Plato, the philosophers ; Raphael, the painter ; 
Homer, the poet; Galileo, the astronomer; Gladstone, 
the statesman; and George Washington, United States' 
first President, and we give them all the honor due their 
name and work. But the Bible says, concerning Christ, 
"Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given 
him a name which is above every name : that at the name 
of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and 
things in earth, and things under the earth; and that 
every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, 
to the glory of God the Father'^ (Phil. 2:9-11). 

The judgment day will not only be the greatest day 
in all history from the simple standpoint of that great 
assemblage, but it will be gi^eat because every man, wo- 
man, and child v^ill be upon their knees. That mighty 
prayer-meeting will not be one of entreaty or supplica- 
tion, but of acknowledgment, simply a giving of consent 
to the awful fact that they had been mistaken, and that 
Jesus Christ is indeed the Son of God. Few saw him 
at his first appearing; but when he comes again "every 



THE JUDGMENT DAY 157 

eye shall see him/^ and the whole world will discover 
and acknowledge that Christ is King. The time to 
kneel and pray for mercy is now, for when the judgment 
day arrives it will be too late. 

God's Attitude Will Change 
There is no other name given under heaven whereby 
men can be saved but the name of Jesus Christ ; on the 
day of judgment, however, Christ will lay off his media- 
torial robes and put on those of a judge. He will, on 
that day, assume the role of Judge of the Supreme 
Court. No mediator then shall be found, and, hence, no 
one can gain an audience with the great God. Christ 
will no longer be the Savior, but one of an offended 
Godhead. The books will all be brought in, and the 
world of mankind will be judged out of the things writ- 
ten. Man must then give an account to God, Jesus 
Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the Word of God, for the 
use made of time. ^'When the Son of man shall come 
in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then 
shall he sit upon the throne of his glory : and before 
him shall be gathered all nations : and he shall separate 
them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep 
from the goats : and he shall set the sheep on his right 
hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King 
say unto them on his right hand. Come, ye blessed of my 
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the 
foundation of the world. Then shall he say also unto 
them on the left hand. Depart from me, ye cursed, into 
everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. 
And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: 
but the righteous into life eternaF^ (Matt. 25:31-34, 
41, 46). 



158 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

Reader, what would be your condition if all these 
things should happen tonight? Prepare to meet thy 
God! 

THE END 
All things upon this earth will have an end. 

For of the dust were each and all things made: 
The mighty oak that boweth not its head, 
The earth, the sky, the flower, and tender blade. 

The nightingale shall cease its pleasant song, 
And place its head beneath its feathery wing; 

The whippoorwill, that chants the evening long. 
Will close its eyes, no more on earth to sing. 

The cattle grazing yonder on the plain 
Will cease, and seek a shelter where to rest; 

The wildman, living in his house of cane, 
Will watch the sun go sinking in the west. 

The bride, adorned with robes of spotless white. 
With crimson cheek, and pulses beating fast. 

With happy thoughts of future years — that night 
Will ne'er mistrust that day on earth is past. 

The murderer, low crouching in his cell. 
Will think of youth, of home and mother dear; 

Not thinking that so soon the flames of hell 
Will blanch his cheek, and freeze his heart with fear. 

The sun will kiss as usual the west. 
And fling his smiling rays o'er land and sea; 

And myriads on the earth will go to rest. 
And dream of love, of wealth, and time to be. 

But hark! what means that solemn trumpet call? 

The sleeper wakes bedazed with such a sight; 
"O rocks, O mountains, come and on me fall! 

Oh, would to God I knew this were the night!" 

The earth will reel and fall to rise no more. 
The long, long day of mercy will be past; 

The spotless bride of Jesus then will soar. 
To lands where vernal flow'rs forever last. 



CHAPTER XVIII 
THE CHRISTIAN'S HOPE 

The hope of immortality and eternal life is as old as 
the history of man. The religion of every country con- 
tains elements of the hope of a life beyond this one. 
Job, in probably the oldest writing in the Bible, asks, 
^^If a man die, shall he live again T^ and then by inspira- 
tion answers the question, "All the days of my appointed 
time will I wait, till my change come. Thou shalt call, 
and I will answer thee'^ (Job 14:14,15). The great 
apostle Paul was writing to the Thessalonians upon the 
duties and responsibilities of a holy life, relative to our 
duty to God and our fellow man, when, in answer to 
their questioning concerning the future life and its pos- 
sibilities, which I infer'was mingled with certain doubts 
and fears, he leaves his subject in hand in verse 12* 
(1 Thessalonians 4) and in verse 13 begins a line of 
discussion relative to the question of meeting our 
loved ones beyond the grave. * ' But I would not have 
you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which 
are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which 
have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and 
rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus 
will God bring with him. . . For the Lord him- 
self shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the 
voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: 
and the dead in Christ shall rise first ; then we which 
are alive and remain shall be caught up together with 
them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air ; and so 
shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort 



160 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

one anotlier with these words." Genuine faith con- 
stains no element of uncertainty, and so we believe, 
as the great apostle has taught us, that those who 
have died in Christ, God will bring with him, and 
that we all, who are saved, shall be together forever- 
more. 

That troublesome question of a home beyond the grave 
is forever settled in the words of the Master in John 
14 :l-3 : "Let not your heart be troubled : ye believe in 
Grod, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many 
mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I 
go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare 
a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto 
myself ; that where I am, there ye may be also.^' If the 
promise of a life beyond this present one had been a 
myth, or tradition, instead of a fact, Christ would have 
told them so; but he positively stated that their hopes 
were based upon truth, insomuch that he told them to 
give it no more anxious thought. Some one expressed 
the hope of eternal life in the following verses : 

"There is no death, the stars go down 
To shine upon some fairer shore. 

And bright in heaven's jeweled crown 
They shine for aye and evermore. 

"There is no death, the leaves may fall, 
The flowers may fade and pass away; 

They only wait through wintry hours 
The coming of a glorious May. 

"And ever near us, though unseen. 
Their dear immortal spirits tread; 

For all the universe is life: 
There is no death, there are no dead." 



THE JUDGMENT DAT 161 

Shall We Know Each Other There? 
When we lay our loved ones away in the silent grave, 
the question always arises, Shall we know and love them 
on the other side as we knew and loved them here ? In 
considering this phase of the subject, we must ever keep 
in mind that earthly love is simply an earthly expedi- 
ency, and that we shall leave it behind us at death the 
same as we shall all other earthly things. There will 
be no physical sex in eternity. Human love, our chil- 
dren, our husbands and wives exist as such only where 
there is physical sex, viz., in this life. When asked whose 
wife the woman who had had seven husbands here would 
be in heaven, Jesus plainly taught that the belief that 
in the future world there would be himian love and fam- 
ily ties, was an error, and he explained why in Luke 
20:34-36. As to the thought of knowing people in 
heaven, the Bible assures us that we shall retain our 
memory in the future world. Memory will contribute 
to our gratitude and joy throughout all eternity. If 
memory should cease, we could not sing that new song 
intelligently — namely, of sins washed away by the blood. 
If redemption were not to be the object of our remi- 
niscence, it would not become the theme of our praise. 
Memory is necessary to the preservation of our identity. 
Instead of our faculties being destroyed in the future 
world, they will be strengthened. Abraham said : "Son, 
remember that thou in they lifetime,^^ etc. Memory is 
fertile with ideas and thoughts that make us happy or 
miserable. Memory is a kind of reprint upon the con- 
sciousness, of the souFs activities. When it is awakened, 
it sets a train of thoughts in motion which run back- 
ward over the past recalling the good and the evil. 



162 PEOBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

Memory resings the songs of childhood and re-echoes 
the voices of our departed dead. Memory is the basis 
of recognition, hanging the outlines of the faces of our 
friends like pictures on the wall. The martyrs exclaimed 
(Rev. 6:10), "How long . . . dost thou not judge 
and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? 
. . . And it was said unto them, that they should rest 
yet for a little season.'' How could they ask such a 
question or obey what was told them without the faculty 
of memory, or reasoning faculties that gave confidence 
and hope? 

Jesus said, "The queen of the south shall rise up in 
the judgment with the men of this generation, and 
condemn them." ^'The men of Nineveh shall rise up 
in the judgment with this generation, and shall con- 
demn it" (Luke 11:31, 32). The power of the forego- 
ing argument has its foundation on memory and knowl- 
edge of comparative opportunities. If we shall be un- 
able to recognize each other in heaven, then there must 
be a loss of memory. Heaven is represented in the Bible 
as a place of increase, not decrease. In the ninth chap- 
ter of Luke we have an account of Christ's transfigura- 
tion. On that occasion Moses, the great law-giver, and 
Elijah, the prophet, who lived hundreds of years apart, 
met, but the apostles knew them, and Moses and Elijah 
'^spake of his [C'hrist's] decease which he should ac 
complish at Jerusalem'' (v. 31). It is evident that they 
remembered prophecies relative to the manner and place 
of Christ's death. Mental philosophy teaches us that 
personal identity will never be lost, and if we can know 
ourselves, we can recognize each other, as was the case 
with the rich man, the beggar, and Abraham. 



THE JUDGMENT DAT 163 

All Must Die 

Death is a door through which all must pass in order 
to reach that heavenly country. Physical death means 
a separation of the soul from the literal body; but on 
the morning of the resurrection, the soul and body will 
unite again, never more to be separated. There are 
many mysteries connected with the resurrection of our 
bodies; nevertheless the doctrine is Scriptural, and was 
taught by Christ himself. The same body in which 
we live will come forth from the grave, and we rejoice 
in the fact that it will be changed. The selfsame body 
that was sown in corruption will be raised in incorrup- 
tion, that was sown in dishonor wrill be raised in glory, 
that was sown in weakness will be raised in power. It 
was sown a natural body, but will be raised a spiritual 
body. While upon this earth, the incorruptible soul 
is in union with a corruptible body; but when God 
shall speak on that resurrection morning, the mortal 
body shall arise transformed and immortalized. The 
last traces of human v^eakness shall have gone forever; 
no more tears shall run down over innocent faces; no 
more shall sin or death be known. Instead of weakness, 
there will be the perfect hand, the clear eye, and the 
attentive ear. Xo more trembling limbs and tired feet 
bearing the weight of long years of suffering shall be 
seen or known. N'o more blind people groping around, 
nor children crying for bread ; no more sickness, sorrow, 
or death shall be known in the land ; and no miasma or 
fever shall be in the air. 

Consumption, the white man's plague in the West; 
leprosy, the plague of the East; and cholera, of the 
South, will never be mentioned beyond the resurrection 



164 PROBLEMS OF ETERNAL MOMENT 

day. No more doctors, no hospitals, no ambulances, 
no crutches, and no cold and chilly winds to blow. 
There will be no night there, but perpetual sunshine. 
As immortal athletes, unencumbered and unconquerable, 
we shall run and not be weary, we shall walk and not 
faint. 

Oh, blessed land of eternal day! Most gladly will 
I lay this body down into the silent grave to await that 
resurrection call. God shall call, and I shall answer 
him, and shall arise with my stammering tongue un- 
loosed, and the physical defects which have been handed 
down to me for long generations, gone forever. I do 
not look upon heaven as a place where long rows of 
saints are continually kneeling chanting Te Deums, nor 
of x>eople lounging under the tree of life ; but I believe 
heaven will be a place of restful activity, where with 
eternal companions we can honor God, and explore and 
expand forever. Oh, that quenchless longing for im- 
mortality! That irresistible, mysterious, undefined im- 
pulse that forever leads us onward toward that land be- 
yond lifers setting sun ! The fact of a future resurrec- 
tion of our bodies, in my opinion, is no more wonder- 
ful than the fact of creation; for either work requires 
the hand of omnipotence. Like one of old, I ask, ^^What, 
when, and how shall all these things be?^' and the an- 
swer comes back as it did in other days, ^^Go thou thy 
way till the end be, for thou shalt rest and stand in 
thy lot at the end of the days.'^ Reader, art thou pre- 
pared to meet thy God? 



